Coronavirus update for Victoria - Tuesday 20 October

Victoria has recorded one new case of coronavirus since yesterday, with the total number of cases now at 20,320.

There have been no new deaths from COVID-19 reported since yesterday. To date, 817 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.

Today’s new case is a previously reported case who tested positive in July. This case is under investigation and review. Today’s case is in the local government area of Brimbank.

This new case is being reviewed by an expert panel of clinicians and epidemiologists to determine if this is a new infection or if the person is still shedding virus from their original infection. The panel will examine a range of issues, including the cases’ movements, symptoms, epidemiological links to known cases and test results, to inform its decision.

There was also a case reported last night that is a Victorian resident quarantining interstate after returning from overseas. This case is not included in today’s figures.

The Department of Health and Human Services continues to work with local health services to contain an outbreak of coronavirus in Shepparton. There are three cases in Shepparton, which is no change from yesterday.

A further 357 tests were taken in Shepparton and surrounding regions yesterday, taking the total number of tests in Shepparton and the surrounding region to 6680.

Details about current high-risk locations, locations of concern and testing centres open today in Shepparton and surrounding regions are available from the Department’s website at: https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/chadstone-kilmore-shepparton-outbreaks-covid-19.

The average number of cases diagnosed in the last 14 days (6 Oct 2020 – 19 Oct 2020) for metropolitan Melbourne is 6.4 and regional Victoria is 0.4. The rolling daily average case number is calculated by averaging out the number of new cases over the past 14 days.

The total number of cases from an unknown source in the last 14 days (4 Oct 2020 – 17 Oct 2020) is 13 for metropolitan Melbourne and zero from regional Victoria. The 14-day period for the source of acquisition data ends 48 hours earlier than the 14-day period used to calculate the new case average due to the time required to fully investigate a case and assign its mode of acquisition.

The 13 mystery cases in the last 14 days (4 Oct 2020 – 17 Oct 2020) are in the following postcodes, 3015, 3024, 3025 (two cases), 3037, 3047, 3073 (two cases), 3081, 3128, 3152, 3173 and 3175.

In Victoria at the current time:

• 4277 cases may indicate community transmission – a decrease of one since yesterday
• 122 cases are currently active in Victoria
• 11 cases of coronavirus are in hospital, there are no cases in intensive care
• 19,313 people have recovered from the virus
• A total of 2,967,085 test results have been received which is an increase of 11,936 since yesterday

Of the 122 current active cases in Victoria:

• 119 are in metropolitan Melbourne under the Second Step of our roadmap
• 3 are in regional local government areas under the Third Step of our roadmap. The three cases are in Greater Shepparton. There are now no active cases in Mitchell Shire

Of the total cases:

• 18,924 cases are from metropolitan Melbourne, while 1199 are from regional Victoria
• Total cases include 9692 men and 10,616 women
• Total number of healthcare workers: 3600, active cases: 10
• There are 9 active cases relating to aged care facilities

Active aged care outbreaks with the highest active case numbers are as follows:

• 3 active cases are currently linked to Uniting Age Well Preston (total cases: 5)
• 3 active cases are currently linked to Estia Aged Care Facility Keilor (total cases: 52)

Non-aged care outbreaks with the highest number of active cases include:

• 12 active cases are currently linked to the north metro region community (total cases: 20)
• 9 active cases are currently linked to the Box Hill Hospital (total cases: 14)
• 9 cases are currently linked to the south-eastern community (total cases: 9)
• 7 active cases are currently linked to the Chadstone Shopping Centre (total cases: 39)
• 3 active cases are currently linked to the Hoppers Crossing community outbreak (total cases: 4)

As public health work is undertaken throughout the day, outbreak totals are likely to change as the public health team identify links between cases and identified outbreaks. Organisation based outbreak totals include contacts as well as employees/residents/staff/students of that location/business.

Information regarding COVID-19 is available at the Department of Health and Human Services website or by calling 1800 675 398. The GV Health hotline can also be contacted on 1800 313 070 between 8am and 8pm.

To keep updated on testing locations and public exposure sites visit https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/chadstone-kilmore-shepparton-outbreaks-covid-19.

Media enquiries:

Department of Health & Human Services Media Unit (03) 9096 8860 or press@dhhs.vic.gov.au.

Cases by Local Government Area

Please find the latest COVID-19 notifications by local government areas below.

Note:

• Residential location is the residential address provided when the case is notified.
• This is not where they were infected and may not be where the case currently resides.
• Numbers are correct as of 11.59pm last night but are subject to change as cases are followed up and data is analysed. This can include changes to residential addresses following case interviews.
• The last column shows the number of current active cases in an LGA. Active cases are defined as someone who has tested positive, is currently in isolation and being monitored by the Department and who has not yet recovered.