In a rare bit of good news on a day that saw the national death toll from COVID pass 1000, health authorities have uncovered the links for the last cases in the dangerous Shepparton outbreak in regional Victoria.
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Victorian Chief Health Officer professor Brett Sutton highlighted the development on Monday around the work done by contract tracers.
"In terms of the Shepparton outbreak, there were two mystery cases notified yesterday. They are now linked. All cases in Greater Shepparton are now linked in this outbreak - a good-news story," Professor Sutton said.
But he did highlight that one venue a hairdressing salon, might have more visitors on August 15 through to August 19 yet to come forward and be tested.
Professor Sutton also said the Traralgon exposure was not an exceptionally high risk area.
"The close contact of the case has tested negative, but there are still potential exposures. Please be aware of that, but it doesn't look like a high-risk exposure site at the moment."
Professor Sutton said easing restrictions by local government area as the work at suppression progressed was not 'off the table' particularly for regional Victoria but was not committing to any definitive dates or areas.
"We are doing pretty well in Shepparton and that gives us options for regional Victoria," he said.
Prof Sutton said a decision on easing restrictions on regional Victoria he hoped to be made "over the next couple of days" and it would be based around where the risks from cases had occurred."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Ballarat has had no known cases in the latest waves of COVID and exposure sites have been limited in the region to a Ballan service station back in July when removalists visited. That site is no longer on the list.
Professor Sutton also said balancing the mental health impacts of changes such as opening up playgrounds had to be balanced with levels of vaccination and the contagion risk of children passing it onto their families.
"We're in a very challenging position right now," Professor Sutton said.
"We are hoping to see a trend, and maybe it's stabilising, over the last few days, with numbers not increasing exponentially. We are in a much, much better position than we might have been with exponential growth from the beginning of this outbreak. The number of days from when we had 50 cumulative cases in July is relatively flat compared to how it took off in NSW."
Health Minister Martin Foley said "the situation has, we hope, plateaued" as he noted there was "every indication" the public health rules were starting to kick in.
But when asked about a plan out of lockdown, the state's sixth, Mr Foley warned there would not be a map like during Victoria's deadly second wave last year.
Instead, the plan is the one agreed by national cabinet to rely on vaccination rates.
"In regards to specific timetables and in regards to specific measures, the public health team are working on those," he told reporters in Melbourne.
"But in terms of time frames ... the strategy is the national cabinet agreed position, that when we get to 70 per cent, when we get to 80 per cent vaccination rates, our options multiply.
"If we do that, from the lowest possible infection levels, then our options grow."
After a record high for 2021 on Sunday, there have been 73 new local cases in Victoria reported on Monday with no new cases acquired overseas.
There are now 805 active virus cases in the state, according to the Department of Health.
Australia has recorded more than 1000 coronavirus deaths during the pandemic as another record for new daily cases was smashed. The four latest deaths in NSW took the national toll to 1003, while the state also reported 1290 new local infections on Monday.
In Victoria of the locally-acquired cases, 52 have so far been linked to existing cases and outbreaks leaving 21 cases that are still being investigated, DHHS reported.
Across Victoria 26,702 vaccine doses were administered - 41,395 test results were also received.
EARLIER:
Meanwhile Victoria will remain in lockdown after the weekends high numbers prompted the Premier to hose down any speculation about early release.
Sunday's figure of 92 new cases was the highest since 2020's second wave in Victoria but paled against the record 1236 new cases for a single day in NSW, the largest yet for the pandemic in Australia.
NSW is pushing on with its attempts to make some concessions regardless of COVID numbers in the hope the 70 vaccination rate with save the state from the worsening pandemic .
Despite 80 per cent of NSW's available intensive care beds are already full and ambulances working in Sydney's west and south have been sending patients to more distant hospitals, NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro said their system was coping.
In Victoria, More than a third of the active cases are people aged 19 and under.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he did not yet have advice on how long the lockdown imposed on August 5 should be extended, but promised to examine options as soon as the advice was available.
"We see far too many cases today for us to seriously consider opening up later on this week," Mr Andrews said on Sunday.
Despite the figures, he promised there was "still a chance" of the state's case numbers returning to zero.
"It's only fair that we be as up front as possible," Mr Andrews said.
Sunday's tally was a jump from the previous day's local case figure of 64, and the highest number of new cases recorded since early September 2020, when the state battled the second wave of the virus.
Two-thirds of the state's active cases are in Melbourne's north and west.
"That's not to single out the north or the west, but ... that is where the cases are and that's where the extra effort has to be," Mr Andrews said.
Western suburbs doctor Amrooha Hussain told reporters at Sunday's news conference that she continued to see people arriving for COVID tests up to two weeks after they showed symptoms.
She said entire families with young children had been infected.
"It's hard enough to look after one sick child, but when there's multiple sick children, and then the carers are unwell themselves, it's a really challenging time for those families," she said.
Another 12 cases were found in Broadmeadows, 12 in Newport, nine linked to earlier outbreaks in Glenroy, and four from a supermarket in Altona North.
ON the weekend one COVID case was found in the Gippsland town of Traralgon after the person went to a funeral in Melbourne.
The outbreak in Shepparton in the Goulburn Valley region has also grown, with nine new cases.
One case was also uncovered in Victoria's hotel quarantine system.
Meanwhile, Mr Andrews said the prime minister had promised him in a conversation on Saturday that NSW would no longer get "preferential treatment" in vaccine distribution.
"We didn't begrudge them getting additional doses, but we're locked down, they're locked down, and the need is just as great here," Mr Andrews said.
- with AAP
