Australia's Victoria reports deadliest day of pandemic with 25 fatalities
Victoria's previous highest daily coronavirus death toll was 21, recorded last Wednesday.
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia s second-most populous state of Victoria on Monday (Aug 17) reported the deadliest day of the pandemic with 25 fatalities from the coronavirus in the last 24 hours and 282 new cases.
The state recorded 16 deaths and 279 new cases a day earlier. It reported its previous one-day high of 21 deaths last week.
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 772,751 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT on Sunday.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said 22 of the 25 deaths were linked to aged care outbreaks.
Victoria s previous highest daily coronavirus death toll was 21, recorded last Wednesday.
But in a sign of hope, today was the second consecutive day where new case numbers were under 300.
Yesterday Victoria recorded 279 new coronavirus cases and 16 deaths, pushing the state s COVID-19 death toll over 300.
Eleven of those 16 deaths were linked to aged care.
Mr Andrews yesterday pleaded with Victorians to get tested, saying there was "every chance" even mild symptoms could be coronavirus.
"There s so little flu in the Victorian community this year because of a range of things, not least of which distance, hand hygiene, all of those restrictions and measures we ve put in place," he said.
"If you ve got symptoms, cold or flu-like symptoms, there s every chance you ve got this virus."
Although the daily case numbers continue to fluctuate, the state s seven-day average of new case numbers is going down.
Victoria s state of emergency, which provides the legal framework for the Government to enforce coronavirus restrictions, has been extended until September 13.
Mr Andrews said it was too early to tell whether some restrictions could be eased after the six-week lockdown.
Meanwhile, the inquiry into what went wrong in Victoria s hotel quarantine program will start hearing evidence today, with experts, including epidemiologists, expected to appear first.
In his opening statements to the inquiry last month, senior counsel assisting the inquiry, Tony Neal QC, noted "comments made by the Chief Health Officer [Brett Sutton] to the media have suggested that it may be that every case of COVID-19 in Victoria in recent weeks could be sourced to the hotel quarantine program".
