Victoria records six new local cases of coronavirus

Victoria has recorded six new local cases of coronavirus as the state’s seven-day snap lockdown looks likely to be extended.

Victoria has recorded six new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Wednesday.

It brings the state’s active case count to 67 as the number of exposure sites increases to 351.

It comes as health authorities decide on whether to extend Victoria’s seven-day snap lockdown.

Shoppers who visited six shopping precincts in the past two weeks may have been exposed to coronavirus and have been urged to get tested.

The areas of concern are Craigieburn Central, Bay Street/ Clarendon Street in South Melbourne, Pacific Epping, Broadway Reservoir shopping strip, Station Street Lalor shopping strip and Brimbank shopping centre.

Victoria’s Covid testing commander Jeroen Weimar on Tuesday warned at least four of the state’s more than 50 locally transmitted cases had come from “fleeting” contact between Victorians.

“What we’re seeing now is people are brushing past each other in a small shop … This is stranger to stranger transmission,” he said.

Health authorities said more than 300 of those exposure sites had been connected to the City of Whittlesea outbreak.