Victoria’s coronavirus death toll hit 17 after a man in his 90s died in hospital after being infected with COVID-19, whereas another three people contracted coronavirus on Sunday bringing the state’s total number of cases to 1,349 (with 1,265 people having recovered).
One of the three new infections was a patient at the Albert Road Clinic where at least 16 staff, patients and contacts have contracted the virus.
Victoria will continue to enforce restrictions and social distancing measures despite a falling infection count, which was found encouraging by Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton on Sunday. Despite the promising tally, the state will not follow the lead of other states which are relaxing restrictions.
Professor Sutton said the numbers were encouraging, however he said “the state of emergency going to 11 May is a nice line-up with the national cabinet process for a real look at changing the restrictions.”
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The curve is being flattened. “They prove that our physical distancing measures are working but this is not a time to relax our strong approach – this disease can get away from you very quickly as we have seen in cities overseas,” Professor Sutton said.
Victoria will continue to invest $1.9 billion to beef up its intensive care capacity, secure medical equipment and boost the state’s reserves of personal protective equipment (PPE) to deal with a surge in coronavirus cases. The state will receive 16 million surgical masks, 2 million N95 masks, 5 million gowns, more than 2 million face shields and eye protection and millions of pairs of gloves over the next two weeks.
“It’s really important we aren’t relying on international supply chains in responding to this pandemic and into the future,” Ms Mikakos said.
“I hope one lasting legacy that will come out of this pandemic is not just improved supply chain and distribution networks for our health networks in Victoria but also local manufacturers in Victoria, making, producing, supplying vital health equipment responding to needs going forward.”