Victoria’s Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed 397 new cases of COVID-19 overnight, including three new deaths.
Only 37 of the cases were related to known outbreaks.
The situation was dubbed “very serious” with 116 deaths in Victoria (201 in Australia), and 5,919 active cases in the state of which 379 were in hospital.
The premier said the situation in aged care was very serious with 1008 cases and 1075 health workers affected.
St Basil’s in Fawkner is linked to 124 cases with 78 infected residents, 35 staff members and 11 other contacts.
The facility has now been fully evacuated after six staff members brought in to manage the outbreak were infected in recent days.
READ MORE: St Basil’s aged care residents transferred to hospital, but not all relatives are happy
Mr Andrews had announced that face masks would be mandatory in public places throughout the whole state of Victoria from 11.59pm from Sunday, 2 August.