Live Breaking News: Melbourne's lockdown exit hopes shot down as cases rise

Radio host Neil Mitchell has unleashed on the Victorian government accusing it of being "cruel" as the state's cases rise. Follow us live.

Welcome to our live coverage of the coronavirus situation in Victoria.

There were 20 new locally-acquired cases picked up in the state yesterday.

Victoria Health says the cases are all linked, however only five have been in quarantine throughout their infectious period.

That is a big blow to hopes that Melbourne's lockdown would end on Thursday.

The premier said yesterday Melburnians will have to achieve consecutive days with all new coronavirus cases in isolation for their entire infectious period before lockdown is lifted. By that metric, the lockdown is almost certainly going to be extended.

Although some Victorians will be disheartened by a rise in locally-acquired cases , there is a positive to take from the figures.

Only five of the 20 new cases was isolating throughout their infectious period, but the proportion of those fully quarantined is growing. Yesterday there were 11 new cases, but only one was isolating.

That means the percentage of those isolating has increased to 25 per cent today, up from only nine per cent yesterday.

You can follow our live updates in the blog below. You can also follow our live NSW coverage here.

Originally published as Live Breaking News: Melbourne's lockdown exit hopes shot down as cases rise