Victoria records 1206 virus cases, 2 deaths: ‘Not chasing Omicron zero’

There were 1206 new coronavirus cases and two deaths across Victoria on Tuesday as the Premier revealed the state’s Omicron plan.

Victoria has recorded 1206 new cases and two Covid deaths in the past 24 hours.

There are now 313 infected Victorians in hospital, with 61 in active intensive care and 25 on a ventilator.

A total of 66,784 tests were received and 3925 vaccines administered at state hubs.

More than 92 per cent of eligible Victorians are now fully vaccinated.

The state now has 11,145 active cases.

The Premier provided the insight on Thursday afternoon, confirming Victoria would have to live with the new variant in the community.

“We are not chasing an Omicron zero strategy, that is not a smart thing to do. That will not be achieved,” he said.

“We’ll be guided by the growing body of international evidence about the transmissibility and infectivity of this new variant but also the relatively positive signs that the disease is milder and certainly not more severe than the Delta variant.

More than 92 per cent of eligible Victorians are now fully vaccinated. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

“Our aim is to have as few rules as possible.”

The Premier also acknowledged the highly infectious nature of the new strain, which arrived in Victoria as the state’s daily case tally regularly topped 1000.

“This thing is in our country, it will be more widespread than any surveillance will show you. That’s just the nature of this virus – there’s always more cases than you know about,” he said.

“There’s no evidence that vaccinations are compromised by this variant; in fact, quite the contrary in terms of early evidence.”

The new insight comes after Victoria recorded its first case of the Omicron variant on Wednesday.