Coronavirus: Victoria records 94 new cases and 18 deaths
Victoria’s virus cases have dropped below 100 new infections for the first time in 55 days, but the death toll has reached a grim milestone.
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Victoria’s daily coronavirus case number has dropped below 100, with 94 new infections recorded on Saturday alongside 18 deaths.
The last time the state recorded fewer than 100 cases was 55 days ago on July 5.
While the case numbers are heading in the right direction, the new fatalities bring Victoria to a morbid milestone: more than 500 lives lost in the state due to the virus.
The state’s Department of Health and Human Services announced the latest numbers recorded over the past 24 hours on Twitter Saturday morning.
#COVID19VicData for 29 August, 2020. There were 94 new cases detected in Victoria yesterday, and we are sad to report 18 lives lost. More information will be available later today via our media release. pic.twitter.com/VqT7Ow6FJW
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) August 28, 2020
The double-digit case number follows 113 cases announced on Friday, continuing a daily infection numbers trend below 150 all week.
The new deaths bring the state’s total fatalities to 514.
The state’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, was asked yesterday whether the shrinking case numbers meant Victoria could lift stage-four restrictions after September 13.
Professor Sutton said falling below 100 new cases per day would be positive from a psychological perspective but he could not predict when the orders would be lifted, with thousands of mystery cases still a major concern.
“I don’t know; the tail of an epidemic has lots of complexity to it,” he said.
“We do need to hold the course.”
– with Rebecca Le May
Originally published as Coronavirus: Victoria records 94 new cases and 18 deaths