There are 361 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria - 69 active cases in ICU, with 33 of those on a ventilator. There are an additional 55 cleared cases in ICU.
5,024,737 vaccine doses have been administered by Victoria's state-commissioned services, with 533 administered yesterday at state-run centres.
Vaccinations are still available over the festive season, but many state-run vaccination centres will not be operating over the period through to 2 Jan 2022 - particularly on public holidays.
Some centres will be open over the festive period, so please check the list of vaccination centres for opening days and hours for individual sites. Otherwise, to obtain your vaccination during this period, please use the Vaccine clinic finder to find a participating GP or pharmacy.
94.5 per cent of Victorians aged 12 and over have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 92.8 per cent have had two doses. This excludes the most recent Commonwealth data.
Victoria was notified of 2,738 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. All cases were locally acquired except for three cases which were acquired overseas. The 10 LGAs with the highest number of new cases are Hume, Wyndham, Melbourne, Brimbank, Darebin, Whittlesea, Moonee Valley, Melton, Casey and Yarra.
All locations containing new cases will be published today at Victorian COVID-19 data.
There are 17,821 active cases in Victoria. The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 161,845.
Sadly, the Department was notified yesterday of four deaths of people aged in their 60s, 80s and 90s. This brings the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began to 1,499.
66,683 COVID-19 tests were processed yesterday. The total number of tests performed in Victoria since the pandemic began is 17,134,467.
There are currently more than 22,489 active close contacts in isolation in Victoria.
Updates
Case numbers
The modelling has always shown a rise in cases over the December to January period, and the new Omicron variant has shown us this pandemic is far from over.
We're still learning about this variant, so we're taking careful steps to ensure the safety and health of everyone in the community like wearing masks and getting tested - but one thing we know that works against this variant is that crucial third dose.
With nearly 93 per cent of Victorians aged 12 and over double vaccinated, Victoria is one of highest vaccinated jurisdictions in the world and we want to keep it that way - so book your appointment today.
The media reports this morning are not an accurate reflection of what has occurred here.
The Department of Health has always acted to protect contact tracing and QR code data - and this matter was dealt with through the courts as the appropriate forum to stop the release of such information.
Worksafe's attempt was unsuccessful and the Department asked the court for this matter not to be dealt with publicly to ensure that Victorians can continue to have confidence in one of the key measures to keep us safe.
We've never handed over contact tracing information in such circumstances - and our new pandemic framework ensures that individuals contract tracing information is protected in law.
Travel testing
The Department reiterates that PCR testing for interstate travel is not the most efficient use of testing resources in the current environment - but we recognise that Victorians getting tested for travel are simply doing the right thing and following the rules in place at their destination.
We kindly ask people who are getting a PCR test for travel purposes to get tested after 12pm daily. This will help reduce testing demand for symptomatic people and contacts during the busier morning period.
- Current COVIDSafe settings for living and working in Victoria
- Your COVID Checklist
