By Brendan Rees
Casey’s Covid-19 tally has continued to fall with active cases now at 80 across the municipality, the latest health data has revealed.
Despite Casey recording five new cases in the 24 hours to Wednesday 9 September, the city’s active case tally dropped by seven.
It’s a dramatic turnaround after data revealed 349 active cases in Casey three weeks ago.
In neighbouring local government areas Greater Dandenong had 53 active cases and Cardinia 16.
State-wide, there were 76 new cases, with the total number now at 19,688.
The state’s total has 1622 active cases, including 252 active cases of infected health care workers.
There have been 11 new deaths from Covid-19 reported in the 24 hours to Wednesday 9 September. One woman aged in her 60s, three women and two men aged in their 80s and three women and two men aged in their 90s. Six of the deaths occurred prior to 8 September.
Nine deaths are linked to known outbreaks in aged care facilities. To date, 694 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.
Meanwhile, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is investigating two cases of coronavirus linked to staff members at Wagstaff abattoirs in Cranbourne.
A DHHS spokesperson said the abattoir had been closed since 29 August and undergone a deep clean.
It comes as DHHS reported it was “investigating cases” linked to the Thompson Road facility on Thursday 3 September.
“All staff have been tested and the majority of tests have come back negative so far. Close contacts will be required to isolate for 14 days and the facility will be closed for two weeks,” the spokesperson said.“Abattoirs and meat processing plants are known to be high-risk for disease spread and have been the settings for large scale outbreaks across the world. Once the virus gets in, an outbreak can spread rapidly.
“We’re working closely with the agriculture and meat processing industry to design and implement extra safety precautions aimed at protecting staff and slowing the spread of coronavirus in these facilities.”
Victoria Police issued 140 fines to individuals for breaching the Chief Health Officer directions in the 24 hours to Wednesday 9 September including 21 for failing to wear a face covering, eight at vehicle checkpoints, and 54 for curfew breaches.
Examples of people breaching the rules include:
• Eight people fine after gathering for a birthday celebration in Southbank
• Two males fined after police observed them drinking alcohol in a Brimbank park at 9.30pm• A female at Broadmeadows Railway Station was fined for not wearing a face covering. She was given three face masks which she refused to wear.
