Victoria COVID-19 cases soar with 1,965 new infections and five overnight deaths

Saturday’s figure broke another pandemic record with the highest number of daily cases recorded in a day in any state since the virus hit Australian shores.

The Victoria Department of Health also reported five more COVID-related deaths in the past 24 hours.

The record results come from 73,443 tests.

The state also administered 41,177 COVID vaccines on Friday as it continues to approach the double-dose threshold of 70%.

Just over 85% of Victoria’s population had received a first dose of a vaccine while 56% were fully vaccinated, health officials reported on Friday.

Health director Professor Brett Sutton also revealed that the state was nearing its peak in cases, with Burnett Institute modeling suggesting hospitalizations would reach between 1,400 and 2,900 cases by the end of October.

He also warned that the death toll from COVID had not yet peaked due to a “lag” of three or four weeks from the maximum number of cases.

The previous pandemic record for the highest daily number of cases was set by Victoria on Friday with 1,838 new cases reported, breaking the previous record of 1,763 new cases set on Tuesday.

A spike in cases on Friday also prompted authorities to plunge the rural town of Mildura into a seven-day closure from 11:59 p.m. last night, with rules identical to those in Melbourne, excluding the curfew.

Nine active cases were reported in Mildura yesterday, with three more infections to be included in Saturday’s case count.

It comes as residents of Shepparton and Moorabool are released from the lockdown, with restrictions relaxed to align with the rest of the Victoria region.

The Victorian government will provide further information at the regular COVID-19 press conference on Saturday morning.