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Victoria reports another 11 COVID-19 deaths and 1,749 local COVID-19 cases

Victoria has recorded 1,749 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths, as the end of Melbourne’s sixth lockdown nears.

The health department confirmed the state now has 22,476 active cases, up by almost 150.

There were 68,702 tests processed and 36,751 COVID-19 vaccine doses administered at state-run hubs on Monday.

The new deaths take the toll from the current outbreak to 163.

It comes after 1,903 local cases were reported on Monday and as Victoria’s COVID-19 commander suggests businesses split staff into separate groups to avoid entire workforces being knocked out by the virus as the state reopens.

With the state already managing more than 61,000 primary close contacts, Jeroen Weimar said the changes would minimise the impact of reopening on businesses and customers.

“It’s not our intention to be in a world where … every person in a pub is (a close contact) because one positive case has walked in for 15 minutes,” he told reporters on Monday.

Mr Weimar said said it was likely there would still be about 22,000 active cases in the state on Thursday when the city’s lockdown wraps up.

“There will be exposures in our shops, in our hospo and all of our other settings,” he said.

“It’ll be down to how effective those control systems are as to minimise the impacts on other people around them at that time.”

The Victorian government confirmed it would add shorter isolation to its list of rule tweaks when the state hits its 70 per cent double-dose vaccination target.

From 11.59pm on Thursday, isolation orders for fully vaccinated, non-household primary close contacts such as work colleagues and friends will be slashed from 14 days to seven.

Restrictions will ease further when 80 per cent of the eligible population has received both vaccine doses, forecast by some data analysts to be as early as October 31.

Meanwhile, more than 40 Victoria Police staff have been stood down and face losing their jobs after refusing to have a COVID-19 vaccine.

Source: sbs.com.au