Another 10 people have died from COVID-19 in Victoria on the state’s deadliest day during the pandemic.
There were 42 patients in ICU with the virus and more than 42,000 tests were conducted on Saturday — the highest number ever.
Premier Daniel Andrews revealed the latest details, while Ambulance Victoria chief executive Tony Walker spoke about his organisation’s collaboration with the Defence Force.
Here’s what else they had to say at Sunday’s press conference.
The stats out of Victoria today:
- 8,181 infected; 4,233 active cases
- 459 more than yesterday
- 228 patients in hospital; 42 patients in ICU
- 71 lives lost in total
- 10 more deaths — seven men and three women; the men were aged between 40 and 80, the women in their 70s and 80s
- There were 42,573 tests yesterday — the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic
Aged care remains an area of concern
Of the 10 fatalities, seven are linked to aged-care outbreaks.
Three are not linked to any outbreak.
“There are some 560 active cases in aged care,” Mr Andrews said.
He also said while the aged care sector was regulated and run by the Federal Government, “individual operators, individual providers of aged care … have to be accountable for what they have or haven’t done”.
“I will make known that individual nursing homes, every time there is a death, there is the potential of the coroner looking at that and that would be entirely a matter for them,” he said.
Saturday was the biggest day of testing
The Premier confirmed the state had conducted a total of 1,500,592 tests and 42,573 of those were done on Saturday.
“[It is] by far and away the biggest testing result that we’ve seen on a single day,” he said.
“If memory serves, I think 37,000 was around the number that was around our previous peak.
“That is a very impressive effort and we are very grateful to each and every Victorian coming forward and getting tested.
“That is critical to tracking this virus and then being able to contain it.”
More healthcare workers are getting sick
There are 381 active cases among healthcare work