Victoria records 392 cases of Covid

Victoria has recorded 392 cases of coronavirus amid concerns the outbreak is taking off faster than Sydney’s and will soon top 1,000 a day.

Just 107 of the new cases were yet linked to the outbreak with the rest still under investigation by overwhelmed contact tracers. 

They were diagnosed from 48,063 tests and 36,534 vaccine doses were administered on Saturday.

New cases fell sharply from Saturday’s dramatic escalation to 450, but were still higher than at any other point this year.

Experts are concerned Victoria’s numbers are skyrocketing at a faster rate than New South Wales, with accelerated vaccinations and community compliance required to stop cases rising further. 

As NSW moves towards ‘Freedom Day’, Victoria looks set to remain in lockdown beyond October as numbers threaten to get out of control. 

Epidemiologists are concerned the current trend could see Victoria’s rate overtake that of NSW, with the state on track to record over 1,000 cases per day in the coming weeks

Sunday’s new cases are the most since August 11 last year and Saturday’s the most since August 4 which had 700 at the height of Victoria’s second wave. 

There are also increasing fears that parts of regional Victoria could be thrown back into lockdown just a few days after they were given their freedom.

Epidemiologists are concerned the current trend could see Victoria’s rate overtake that of NSW, with the state on track to record over 1,000 cases per day in the coming weeks.

Victoria has reached its 62nd day of its latest outbreak, with a three-day rolling average of 369, below that of NSW’s average of 427.3 daily cases at the same stage.

Despite that number, experts thing the number of unlinked cases and exposure sites mean that figure could drastically increase and see cases spiral out of control unless they ramp up vaccinations and have more compliance from residents. 

While more than 70 per cent of Saturday’s new cases were recorded in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, there were eight new cases in regional Victoria, including five in Geelong, one in Cohuna, one in Daylesford and one in Beveridge.

Most of regional Victoria except Shepparton emerged from lockdown on Friday, with retail and hospitality allowed to reopen under strict rules.

Gladys Berejiklian said the move to cancel daily press conferences was to ‘normalise’ living with the virus (pictured, locked-down Sydneysiders exercising in Bondi)

But Mr Foley said there were no plans for a snap lockdown.

‘There’s no plans at this time to take such measures, but they are always informed by public health advice, and they will continue to be so,’ he said.

‘All the decisions that public health officials take – and that the government supports – are based on public health advice.

‘And they of course look every day, every hour, at the patterns of transmission and the stories behind where the cases are.’

Shepparton is expected to be released from its lockdown next week, while people in Melbourne are waiting for the state government to announce its plans to ease restrictions.

Premier Daniel Andrews earlier said the government is waiting for detailed modelling from the Burnett Institute before making an announcement.