Australia’s Victoria state has reported the deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic since the outbreak began, while daily infections in the hot spot fell to its lowest number in weeks.
The state of Victoria, where the capital Melbourne has been struck with a second virus wave, recorded 19 new deaths on Monday, with 14 of the deaths connected to outbreaks at aged care facilities. While daily deaths rose there, the state saw its lowest number of confirmed COVID-19 infections since July 29, reporting 322 new cases.
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The latest figures did not include new infections and deaths from other Australian states, although Victoria has been accounting for the vast majority of both in recent weeks.
Melbourne entered a second lockdown over a month ago.
A woman takes a walk in a park during lockdown due to the continuing spread of the coronavirus in Melbourne on Aug. 6. Victoria state, Australia’s coronavirus hot spot, announced last week that businesses will be closed and scaled down in a bid to curb the spread of the virus. (AP Photo/Andy Brownbill)
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the data showing that cases are stabilizing in Victoria has made him more hopeful now than he has been at any time over the past week.
But state premier Daniel Andrews cautioned that not too much could be read into a single day’s worth of data, and that some of the state’s most stringent lockdown measures had only come into effect at midnight Sunday.
The outbreak in Melbourne accounts for 70% of Australia’s total infections, the BBC reported. More than 100 deaths were recorded in Victoria in the past week.
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Australia has reported more than 21,000 infections and more than 300 deaths since the beginning of the outbreak.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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