Two Victorian men arrested, accused of stealing more than 1000 rapid antigen tests
Police have swooped on two men accused of stealing more than 1000 rapid antigen tests as the nation grappled with a major shortage.
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Two Victorian men accused of stealing 1400 of rapid antigen tests have been arrested.
Both were nabbed at the Moonee Valley Racecourse about 4pm on Sunday, police said in a statement.
A 19-year-old man from Heidelberg Heights was charged with theft and later bailed. He will appear at the Broadmeadows Magistrates’ Court on July 13.
Another man, a 23-year-old from Lalor has been released.
All of the allegedly stolen tests have since been recovered.
It comes as Victoria recorded 11,695 new cases and 17 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours, the state’s lowest figure since January 3.
There are now 998 infected people in Victorian hospitals, with 119 in intensive care and 47 on ventilators.
Victoria’s pre-Omicron peak for Covid hospitalisations was 851 in October when the state was battling a surge in Delta infections.
However, the figure is dwarfed by the 2816 people in NSW who are in hospital with Covid.
More than 93 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated and the state has a mammoth 186,073 active cases.
A total of 4488 PCR tests were taken on Sunday and 22,940 vaccines were administered at state hubs.
Originally published as Two Victorian men arrested, accused of stealing more than 1000 rapid antigen tests
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