Victoria reports four new local coronavirus cases as state wakes up in first day of new lockdown

Victoria reported four new local COVID-19 infections on Friday morning, hours after the state plunged into a week-long lockdown and as authorities continued to scramble to contain an outbreak now at 30 cases.

The new caseload came from 47,662 coronavirus test results received on Thursday, up from 40,411 on Wednesday.

There were also 17,223 vaccine doses administered on Thursday – a new daily record for the state.

Reported yesterday: 4 new local cases and 2 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
– 17,223 vaccine doses were administered
– 47,462 test results were received

More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco #COVID19Vic #COVID19VicData pic.twitter.com/9TJ9Iphw0e

— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 27, 2021

Two new cases were acquired overseas and are currently in hotel quarantine.

The new number of cases is down from 11 on Thursday.

Victorians are now in their fourth lockdown since the beginning of the pandemic.

People can only leave home for five reasons: to shop for food and essential items, to provide or receive care, for exercise, work or study, or to get vaccinated.

Victoria’s mass vaccination centres were set to begin administering Pfizer shots for anyone aged 40 to 49 on Friday.

Contact tracers are now dealing with more than 10,000 primary and secondary contacts of COVID-19 cases and more than 150 exposure sites across the state.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said on Thursday authorities were dealing with the highly-infectious B161 variant, which was first detected in India.

Source: sbs