By Brendan Rees
No new Covid-19 cases have been recorded in Casey City for more than a week, according to state health department figures.
In a sign the curve may be plateauing, only two cases were reported in Victoria in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 1351.
Casey’s tally remains at 53.In other parts of the southeast, cases in Greater Dandenong had remained unchanged for the past week with 14 confirmed cases and 13 in Cardinia.
State wide, there were no new deaths reported on 27 April. To date, 17 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.
Currently 23 people are in hospital, including 11 patients in intensive care. 1279 people have recovered. More than 109,000 tests have been completed.
Meanwhile, Victoria Police officers reported fining seven people gathering in public to drink alcohol, three males in a vehicle watching a movie, and multiple people travelling to visit their friends’ for a catch up at their house.
On 27 April, police members conducted 903 spot checks at homes, businesses and non-essential services as part of Operation Sentinel. They issued 56 fines for breaches of self-isolation and social distancing rules.
Yesterday the State Government announced a massive expansion of testing, which will help inform decisions about slowly lifting restrictions ahead of the State of Emergency being reviewed on 11 May.
“Up to 100,000 Victorians will be tested for coronavirus over the next two weeks as part of a major testing blitz across the state,” Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said.
“Our daily case numbers are still low which is encouraging. They prove that our physical distancing measures are working but this is not a time to relax our strong approach – this disease can get away from you very quickly as we have seen overseas.”
Across the state, the total number of cases is made up of 700 men and 651 women, with people aged from babies to their early nineties.
There are 139 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Victoria that may have been acquired through community transmission.
On 27 April, the Federal Government reported more than 1.1 million downloads of its COVIDSafe app.
The voluntary app traces contact of at least 15 minutes with other app users who may be exposed to Covid-19.
Details: www.health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/covidsafe-app
