Victoria chief health officer expects virus cases to fall by end of week

Victoria’s chief health officer has revealed a ballpark figure on where he expects virus cases to be by the end of the week.

Victoria’s chief health officer expects coronavirus cases to be at the 40-50 mark by the end of the week, when Melburnians can expect to hear highly sought-after details on a “road map” out of stage four lockdown.

“I would hope we are in the ballpark at 40 or 50 by the end of the week,” professor Brett Sutton told reporters on Monday morning.

“There is a great deal of uncertainty around the tail of any epidemic. We are in a way that is more complex than the first one we tackled that was international travellers and their close contacts by and large with a little bit of community transmission.

“We have had substantial community transmission, but as we get down to the 60-70 numbers, we know that the number of mystery cases, community transition cases where we don‘t know where they have acquired it is getting to single figures.

“It gives us a little bit more confidence that we can get on top of it, and with smaller numbers, we have greater and greater clarity around whether transmission is occurring.”

Melbourne is edging closer to the end of its stage four lockdown, as the Premier offers hope a road map out of the restrictions is being prepared. Picture: NCA NewsWire

It comes after Victoria recorded 73 new infections overnight and its highest-ever death toll with 41 lives lost.

It is the highest number of deaths in a single day in Victoria with the previous record of 25 deaths recorded on August 17.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Melburnians would need to wait another week for details on a “road map” out of stage four lockdown, with an announcement to come on September 6.

“It is too early today to settle that road map and to lock that in as it were,” he said.

“Another week‘s data is critically important to make sure that the strategy continues to work and for us to have a better sense of how long it will take to drive these numbers down to very, very low numbers so that they can be contained uncontrolled without the need to put restrictions back on over not just weeks and months, but over a longer period, finding that COVID-19 normal and looking at in for many months.”

Originally published as Victoria chief health officer expects virus cases to fall by end of week