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Coronavirus Victoria: Melbourne COVID-19 live updates

In some good news, Victoria's chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton says the state has turned a corner and its coronavirus cases have peaked.

Andrews – I was not there for hotel quarantine security decision

It could be the last time Victoria sees coronavirus figures this high, with chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton saying they've peaked.

 

Prof Sutton said he believed the state's cases are now on a decline.

Victoria confirmed 372 new infections and 14 deaths linked to COVID-19 today - an increase from the 287 new cases and eight deaths registered yesterday.

Authorities confirmed Australia's youngest virus death, with a man in his 20s among today's fatality count.

Also among the deaths were three women and two men in their 80s, and four men and four women in their 90s.

"We've turned the corner… and should see a further driving down to transmission with stage four restrictions so it is going on the right direction and I'm confident we've seen the peak but it's got to come down quickly," Prof Sutton said in a press conference earlier today.

Asked when he thinks the death rate might start to come down, Prof Sutton said: "Because we've seen stabilisation in the number of cases, it's essentially levelled off. I think we will see a levelling off of hospitalisations for community cases in the next couple of weeks and the same for deaths.

"If we can drive numbers down from here on in, knowing what we know… we should see a stabilisation of deaths in the next couple of weeks.

"We are concerned about the significant number of aged care cases. They are most at risk. Most at risk of dying. We also have to drive those numbers down as well."

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Updates

Sports centre closes after child tests positive

A sports centre in Sydney has been forced to close after a child who played netball there tested positive for coronavirus.

The Robyn Webster Sports Centre in Tempe in the city's inner west has been closed for deep cleaning.

The child played a netball game there on August 8.

"As a precaution, we immediately closed the venue and deep cleaned all public areas,” the Inner West Council said in a statement.

The centre is due to reopen tomorrow.

'Incredible' amount of travellers still pouring into QLD

Thousands of people are still travelling to Queensland despite tough coronavirus border controls.

More than 2600 people arrived on 65 flights on Thursday. Five were refused entry and 142 were quarantined.

Police also stopped 4575 cars at the border. They turned around 253 and ordered 54 to self-isolate.

“There’s an extraordinary amount of people still coming into Queensland,” Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll said.

“We’re getting people literally moving to the state. The number is just incredible. These are challenging times.”

Elderly woman left with ants crawling in wound

A 95-year-old woman was left with ants crawling from her wounded leg in a Melbourne aged care home.

The resident at Kalyna Care in the city's north-west died on Friday morning from conditions not related to coronavirus.

Horrifying photos her family took, provided to The Guardian, show ants crawling from bloody bandages.

Staff were too overrun to keep up with care, with chair of the board of Kalyna Care, Halja Bryndzia, telling The Guardian that at one point there was only one nurse and one personal care assistant looking after 68 residents.

The photos were taken on Tuesday, about two weeks after the virus was first identified in one staff member.

More than 20 residents and about 15 staff have tested positive for the virus, and many more have been furloughed due to being exposed, including the entire catering team.

Melbourne relaxing parking restrictions

City of Melbourne parking inspectors are easing parking restrictions after a doctor was fined while working 56 hours in four days.

Inspectors will no longer issue fines to people parked in green zones.

They will only enforce restrictions for red sign parking bays that include disability parking, no stopping areas, tow-away clearways, loading zones, and "any other case where a vehicle creates a risk to public safety or access".

It comes after Royal Melbourne intensive care unit anaesthetics registrar Katarina Arandjelovic had just worked 56 hours over four days caring for some of Victoria’s most ill, only to find a parking fine slapped on her car dashboard late Monday night.

The City of Melbourne later admitted it “missed the mark” and agreed to cancel the fine.

Young people the biggest driver

People aged between 20 and 29 are the biggest driver of community transmission, Victoria's chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton says.

They made up 27 per cent of the mystery cases identified so far, followed by people aged between 30 and 39.

Premier Daniel Andrews was adamant younger people were still doing the right thing and that these were people who were out for essential reasons or work.

“They are the people doing the shopping, working a permitted industries going out, those who are out and about for lawful reasons, as much as they are out and about breaking rules so I’m not drawing conclusion in my general sense, a high percentage of Victorians are doing the right thing," he said.

Brothel raided for breaching restrictions

Police have arrested a woman for allegedly operating an illegal brothel at a house in St Albans in Melbourne's west.

Officers raided two addresses in Mintaro Way, Seabrook and Alfrieda Street, St Albans about 7.25pm last night.

The warrants were executed as part of Operation Kokomo, an ongoing investigation into alleged contraventions of the Sex Work Act at the St Albans premises which has been running since July.

A 44-year-old woman was arrested at the Seabrook address, she was interviewed and released pending further enquiries.

Police found several people at the St Albans premises including two women who were both issued a formal warning and several males.

Three of the men in attendance, a 32-year-old Thornhill man, a 26-year-old Delahey man and a 50-year-old Keilor Downs man were all found to be in breach of directions of the Chief Health Officer.

They each received a fine of $1652.

MAFS star to face court

Married At First Sight star Stacey Hamptom will face court on October 30 for two counts of failing to comply with a direction after she allegedly ignored coronavirus restrictions.

The Daily Mail reports the 26-year-old was arrested at Adelaide Airport on May 6 after she returned from Melbourne and allegedly didn't self-isolate.

She faces fines of up to $20,000 and two years jail for each count.

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'We need to do much better': Albanese

Opposition leader Anthony Albanese is addressing the coronavirus crisis in Australia's aged care homes.

"When I think of what is going on in aged care facilities at the moment, some of the stories that I am hearing and the pictures that we are seeing, my heart is shredded," Mr Albanese said.

"The fact is, that too many of our sons and daughters of our World War II veterans said their final goodbyes to their parents over FaceTime.

"Our incredible aged care workers are holding the hands of our precious elderly as they pass.

"The fact is, we as a country need to do much better."

Mr Albanese called on the government to establish a national body that focuses solely on coordination in aged care facilities, a previous recommendation from the aged care commissioner.

"Labor is urging the federal government to ensure that it creates an aged care specific national coordinating body in line with the statement of the commissioner," Mr Albanese said.

"We urge the government to act on this as a matter of urgency.

"One of the most astonishing facts that has come out through the royal commission and other evidence and statements is the fact that aged care workers have not had access to personal protective equipment.

"The idea that in 2020, someone looking after an elderly, sick Australian, who has helped build this country, has to decide whether they will use a left glove or a right glove because they cannot use both is not good enough.

"We need to do much better…The least we could do is to give them dignity and respect in their elder years."

Ballarat cases 'a little bit mysterious'

The mayor of Ballarat has called on the city's residents to embrace their newest testing blitz, as the Victorian regional centre continues to record coronavirus cases.

Mayor Ben Taylor told ABC News the city had 24 active cases and had recently opened a third testing site to help locals access testing quickly.

Mr Taylor described the 24 cases as "a little bit mysterious" and encouraged any Ballarat locals to be tested if they felt unwell.

"The health department and chief health officer has said they need to get some more detail, so having this testing blitz is really good to do this from a regional point of view to allow the information to come through to know what's happening, where it's coming from," Mr Taylor said.

The mayor said he understood that "being a regional city" they were always going to get some coronavirus cases but "24 is really too many".

Mr Taylor said there had already been around 6000 job losses from stage three restrictions and Ballarat could not afford to go into stage four like Melbourne.

"We started to see some good comebacks, but now we've been hit again with stage three. Our community understands that we need to do better," he said.

"We don't want to go to stage four like Melbourne – it would be disastrous to our city.

"I think the community's been doing a great job. We've taken onboard wearing masks whenever we can when we're outside, as well as social distancing and staying home. But I want to keep saying that again – if you live in Melbourne and work in Ballarat, if you don't need to work in Ballarat, stay in Melbourne."

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/world/coronavirus/australia/coronavirus-victoria-melbourne-covid19-live-updates/live-coverage/1989d1f75b87abe81e2d19437410874d