Victorian premier Daniel Andrews announced Friday’s disappointing figures for Victoria with 627 new positive test cases overnight and eight deaths, following yesterday’s 723 cases (the highest since the COVID-19 pandemic began).
Among the eight deaths was another Greek Australian man in his 80s from St Basil’s, bringing the total number of deaths from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese’s facility in Fawkner to 16.
The current death toll for Victoria is 112, the highest in Australia. In Melbourne, the Greek community is mourning at least 22 lives.
The total number of cases in Victoria since 1 January is now 10,577.
The premier said the Australian Defence Force and health department teams had visited 500 homes yesterday to ensure that people were self-isolating and found that a quarter were not at home. He said that about 100 cases had been referred to police. “It is simply unacceptable for you to have this virus and not be at home,” he said.
READ MORE: The aged at St Basil’s are extinguishing like candles: 15 deaths
There are currently 34 teams in Melbourne knocking on doors of people who have tested positive.
More than 5,200 people have applied for the $300 hardship payment for people who do not have sick leave but need to take time off to get a test done. Already, 4,000 have been paid out ($1.26 million).
Victoria’s premier said that further steps to control the virus may be announced in a few days time depending on the outcome of a health analysis following the first 21 days of Melbourne’s stage three lockdown, however he did not announce any new restrictions on Friday.