Coronavirus update for Victoria - Wednesday 15 September 2021

Victoria was notified of 423 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. All were locally acquired.

There are 4,038 active cases in Victoria - 4,035 locally acquired and three overseas-acquired cases.

There are 173 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria. 44 of those cases are in intensive care, with 23 cases on a ventilator.

The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 26,439.

Sadly, the Department was notified of two deaths yesterday:

  • A man aged in his 40s from Whittlesea
  • A man aged in his 70s from Wyndham

This brings the total number of deaths from the current outbreak to eight, and the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began to 828.

Update: Restrictions

The Chief Health Officer has announced that at 11:59 pm on 15 September 2021:

  • the City of Ballarat will enter lockdown
  • lockdown restrictions will lift in Greater Shepparton.

For information about restrictions in lockdown areas, visit How we live: metropolitan Melbourne and Greater Shepparton.

For information about restrictions in non-lockdown areas in the remainder of regional Victoria, visit How we live: regional Victoria.

The above webpages will be updated to reflect the new locations entering and leaving lockdown when the Chief Health Officer Directions come into place at 11:59 pm on 15 September.

Vaccines

Yesterday, a record 41,856 vaccine doses were administered by Victoria's state-commissioned services. The total number of doses administered through state-run services is 2,943,457.

One million COVID-19 doses have been delivered through Victoria's state-run vaccination centres since 14 August, fulfilling an ambitious five-week target several days ahead of its 17 September deadline.

With over 60 open-access vaccination clinics operating at high volume, the effort brings Victoria ever-closer to meeting its 70 per cent first-dose threshold - a milestone that is only days away.

Victoria, in conjunction with general practices, Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations and community pharmacies, has now also delivered more than six million vaccine doses since the start of the pandemic.

To achieve the one million target, state-run centres had to vaccinate roughly 28,000 people per day. Yesterday, those centres vaccinated 41,856 people.

More than 1,565,000 vaccine appointments were booked since we announced the one million-dose target, including 78,000 appointments booked on Monday.

Victorians young and old are coming forward, driven by priority access for VCE students. As of 14 September, 39,998 doses had been administered to 18-year-olds, 32,693 to 17-year-olds, and 22,969 to 16-year-olds. More than 6,200 people aged 12 to 15 were also vaccinated on Monday and Tuesday in state centres.

To keep the numbers growing, pop-up clinics are in place or in the pipeline, targeting priority groups in their community or workplace and reducing barriers to access or take-up by delivering vaccines close to home.

This week, a community pop-up delivered by Monash Health will open at Dandenong's Palm Plaza, as will a pop-up at Hallam Masjid Mosque delivered in conjunction with local health partner EACH. EACH will also administer a pop-up for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community at Croydon's Mullum Mullum Gathering Place.

Western Health will this week launch a pop-up at Werribee's Virgin Mary Mosque, while St Vincent's Health will take its mobile pop-up services to locations across Melbourne to support homeless Victorians.

In regional Victoria, Wodonga Health will start delivering vaccines at a Wangaratta meatworks, Gippsland Health will conduct remote-area outreach in isolated, bushfire-affected communities, and Barwon Health will support local Sudanese, Congolese and Arabic populations at Norlane's Northern Community Hub.

There are currently more than 3,900 first-dose Pfizer appointments and more than 10,600 AstraZeneca appointments available over the next seven days.

Under current public-health directions, getting vaccinated is not a reason to travel from a restricted area to a non-restricted regional area and vice versa.

To find out more, or book your vaccination at a state-run centre, visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au or call the Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398.

Outbreaks

Of the 423 local cases diagnosed yesterday, 149 were linked to current cases as of this morning. More cases are expected to be linked to current cases and outbreaks as investigations continue.

The following Local Government Areas recorded more than one newly diagnosed case yesterday:

  • 2 cases in Ballarat
  • 4 cases in Banyule
  • 3 cases in Boroondara
  • 14 cases in Brimbank
  • 8 cases in Casey
  • 21 cases in Darebin
  • 6 cases in Greater Dandenong
  • 9 cases in Hobsons Bay
  • 143 cases in Hume
  • 2 cases in Manningham
  • 3 cases in Maribyrnong
  • 3 cases in Maroondah
  • 9 cases in Melbourne
  • 14 cases in Melton
  • 10 cases in Moonee Valley
  • 54 cases in Moreland
  • 7 cases in Port Phillip
  • 2 cases in Stonnington
  • 2 cases in Whitehorse
  • 33 cases in Whittlesea
  • 53 cases in Wyndham
  • 9 cases in Yarra.

The 2 cases in Ballarat are in addition to a previous case residing in Ballarat, and another case notified to the Department after the data cut-off today. That case will be in tomorrow's numbers.

Data on Victorian coronavirus cases is available at Victorian COVID-19 data.

Around 62 per cent of cases identified in Victoria yesterday are in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

Around 85 per cent of all active cases in Victoria are people under 50 years of age, while almost one quarter of cases are people in their 20s.

Of the COVID-19 patients in hospital yesterday, 88 per cent are not vaccinated and 11 per cent are partially vaccinated. Only one person is fully vaccinated.

There are currently more than 19,200 active primary close contacts in isolation in Victoria.

At midday today, there were more than 900 published exposure sites in Victoria.

For more information on each exposure site, including dates and times of exposure, please visit Case alerts - public exposure sites.

There may be occasions when the Department is unable to make contact with a business or residential premises before their listing as an exposure site. At all times, we take the decision of when to publish these sites in the interests of public health.

The Department regularly manages exposure sites that it doesn't publish online, particularly if these sites represent lower-risk exposure, or if they have comprehensive record-keeping and contact-tracing measures, or if they identify small, private locations - including smaller apartment or townhouse complexes.

Update: Wastewater testing

COVID-19 has been detected in wastewater sampled in the following locations:

  • Surf Coast - Fairhaven and Aireys Inlet. Period of interest is 7 to 13 September.
  • Ballarat - There have been repeated detections since 30 August, some expected. Of particular interest are strong and unexpected detections in the suburbs of Delacombe, Sebastopol South and Bonshaw. Period of interest is 12 to 14 September.

The detections could be the result of a person in the area who has recovered from COVID-19 but is still shedding the virus, or they could be an undiscovered new case.

Anyone who lives, works or has visited those areas is urged to watch for the mildest of COVID-19 symptoms and get tested as soon as possible if symptoms develop.

For more information on wastewater testing, visit Wastewater testing.

Testing

54,649 COVID-19 tests were processed in Victoria yesterday.

Testing capacity will be boosted in Ballarat.

If you are concerned about losing money from missing work, support is available - including the $450 test isolation payment. For more information, go to Financial and other support for COVID-19.

To find your nearest COVID-19 testing site, visit Where to get tested for COVID-19. Operating hours and wait times will vary.

For more information, visit www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au

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