Victoria's health department has been notified of the deaths of two women with COVID-19, authorities announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed on Tuesday morning he would reveal on Wednesday the thresholds the state needed to meet to ease lockdown restrictions."If we can get to zero, that is a terrific outcome. If we can't, then we are all the better having tried to drive these numbers down as low as possible."He said Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton and the state government would work throughout the day to finalise the plan to give Victorians clarity on how the coming weeks could look.
But Mr Andrews warned Wednesday"will not be freedom day" and any easing of restrictions would be gradual."The choice is between low numbers while we race to vaccinate, or incredibly high numbers because we have not vaccinated enough people yet." "None of us should kid ourselves, pretending that we can live with COVID when we have only got 35 per cent of people vaccinated."
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews addresses the media during a press conference in Melbourne, Tuesday, August 31, 2021.Fifty-two Victorians were in hospital as of Tuesday, with 16 in intensive care, 15 of whom are on ventilators. The median age of COVID-19 patients in Victoria's hospitals is 49 years, while the median age of those in intensive care is 48."This is an outbreak and is moving to become a pandemic of the unvaccinated," Mr Andrews said.SBS is providing live translations of daily New South Wales and Victoria COVID-19 press conferences in various languages.
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Victoria records two COVID-19 deaths after none all yearTwo Victorians with COVID-19 have died in their homes, marking the state&x27;s first recorded COVID-19 deaths this year.
Read more »
Victoria records two COVID-19 deathsA woman in her 60s and a female in her 40s who were diagnosed with COVID-19 have died at home, Victorian health authorities revealed on Tuesday.
Read more »
Indigenous man becomes first COVID-19 death linked to outbreak in western NSWThe chief executive of the Western NSW Local Health District said the Dubbo man had underlying health conditions and had not yet been vaccinated.
Read more »
Australia news LIVE: NSW COVID-19 cases continue to soar as infections grow across the nationNurses at a major Sydney hospital say there’s a “strong sense of hopelessness” as cases continue to rise, Victorian authorities are deciding whether some restrictions can safely ease and the final US troops have left Afghanistan.
Read more »