By Brendan Rees
The rate of the Covid-19 infection in Casey City appears to have slowed, with no new cases reported for days, according to the state’s latest health data.
The Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services figures showed, Casey’s tally remained at 53 – a statistic which had remained unchanged for the past nine days, as of 29 April.However, across the state, one new death reported in the 24 hours to Tuesday 28 April, a woman in her 80s who was in hospital, bringing the state’s death toll to 18.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Victoria stands at 1354 – which is made up of 701 men and 653 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.
Currently 18 people are in hospital, including nine patients in intensive care. So far, 1,287 people have recovered.
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.
Premier Daniel Andrews said Victorians had done a “remarkable job” sticking to stay-at-home restrictions, but urged everyone to with the mildest respiratory to get tested for Covid-19 as part of the State Government’s aim to test 100,000 people over the next fortnight.
The massive expansion of testing, he said, would help inform decisions about slowly lifting restrictions ahead of the State of Emergency being reviewed on 11 May.
The testing blitz will be carried out through a combination of drive-through and walk-up clinics, as well as new mobile screening clinics to visit homes and workplaces.
More than 104,000 Victorians have been tested to date. There are already 43 specialist sites across Victoria where testing can be undertaken, with more testing clinics to be opened during the week in regional and rural areas.
According to Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton, people with common symptoms of coronavirus including fever, chills, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose or loss of sense of smell are encouraged to get tested.
“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,” he said.
Meanwhile, Victoria Police officers reported fining 53 flouting social distancing rules in the 24 hours to Wednesday 29 April.
This included six males gathering at a school car park, five people in a car together having lunch, and multiple people committing criminal offences, including burglary, theft and drug related offences.
