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Australia's deadliest day yet: What you need to know about COVID-19 this weekend.

With AAP.

Victoria records 459 new cases, 10 new deaths. 

On Sunday, Victoria recorded 459 new cases of coronavirus, plus 10 new deaths. It is Australia's deadliest day for coronavirus cases since the pandemic began. 

The deaths take the state toll to 71 and the national figure to 155.

Of those 10 fatalities, seven are linked to aged-care outbreaks and three are not linked to outbreaks, Premier Daniel Andrews said on Sunday. 

The deaths include a man aged in his 40s, one of the youngest people to die from COVID-19 in Australia to date. 

The Premier also confirmed there are currently 381 active cases among healthcare workers in Victoria.

Daniel Andrews is the Victorian Premier. Image: Getty. 

Victoria is 'effectively' at stage four restrictions.

As Victoria approaches three weeks of three-digit daily case rises and rising deaths, questions are being asked about what more can be done.

"People have talked about stage four and a broader shutdown but the very places where we are seeing outbreaks, the very places where we are seeing transmission, are the places that would remain open if we went to a stage four sectoral shutdown," Professor Brett Sutton told reporters on Saturday.

Such places include aged care homes, hospitals and food processing facilities which are all essential services.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Saturday said "masks are effectively our stage four", though he refused to rule out further restrictions.

Police have been fining people for not wearing masks and for failing to abide by stay-at-home restrictions.

In the 24 hours to Saturday evening, police handed out almost 100 infringement notices, including to a man who was on a two-hour drive out of Melbourne to visit a friend.

Watch: What you're like during isolation, according to your star sign. Post continues below. 

Aged care response centre established in Victoria. 

An aged care response centre will be established in Victoria, located at the State Control Centre, in the face of a growing crisis in the sector due to the pandemic. 

"This is about ensuring that there is appropriate emergency management structure, so there is excellent coordination of things like workforce distribution," Dr Nick Coatsworth told ABC's Weekend Breakfast program

He said it had become a very challenging environment where many aged care staff who had contracted COVID-19 were forced to isolate at home but the facility still needed to be run.

The centre is a joint venture between the federal and Victorian governments and comes as more than 500 coronavirus cases in the state are linked to home care facilities and evenly between staff and residents.

Supreme Court prohibits Sydney’s Black Lives Matter protest.

The Supreme Court has sided with NSW Police and prohibited a Black Lives Matter protest from taking place in Sydney this Tuesday due to the health concerns of the coronavirus pandemic. 

The protest was expected to be attended by thousands of people, but it will now be illegal for anyone to take part.  

It's understood the legal team representing the Black Lives Matter movement plans to appeal the decision.

NSW records 14 new cases of coronavirus.

New South Wales recorded 14 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, as fears of a second outbreak continue to linger. 

Of the 14 new cases, six are related to the Thai Rock restaurant cluster, four are related to people attending church services in south-west Sydney, three are returned travellers and one case remains under investigation. 

Listen to The Quicky, Mamamia's daily news podcast. Post continues below. 

Queensland retains tight grip on COVID-19.

Queensland has maintained its tight hold over coronavirus with no new positive tests overnight on Saturday and just five active cases across the state.

The state has closed its borders to Victorians and is refusing entry to people from numerous designated COVID-19 hotspots throughout Sydney, including Fairfield which was added on Thursday.

Treasurer Cameron Dick said "complacency is the enemy" and the way to stay on top of the pandemic is remaining vigilant and that reintroducing border restrictions is a day-to-day proposition.

"The virus is so unpredictable. It's only reason for existence is to find another host to infect another person. We just need to monitor it so carefully to ensure when we need to take action we will," he told reporters on Sunday

Despite a relatively small number of cases throughout Queensland, the state's Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young reinstated a health restriction late on Friday that riled publicans.

Drinking while standing in a Queensland bar has been outlawed with everyone within a venue needing to be seated while eating and drinking.


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Top Comments

anonymous 4 years ago 4 upvotes
To our Conservative government, your ‘casualising’ of the workforce (Howard and Abbott) means lower-paid casual workers have been forced to go to work and risk Covid, in order to feed their families.  Let what has happened in Victoria, with the outbreaks in workplaces, be a lesson in why people need secure employment. It’s about time the Andrews government offered income support for those awaiting test results. Other states take heed. 
guest2 4 years ago
@anonymous.   Whilst I agree about the workfore being increasingly casualized and the resulting pitfalls, it is up to the individual business to decide whether they prefer this option.   At the end of my career, I preferred to work as a casual as it suited my lifestyle and know many others who feel this way, but the trend has gone too far.
cat 4 years ago
@anonymous they are offering $300 payments to anyone getting tested, which is pretty decent for a 24hr wait for results. I suspect the bigger problem is that workers are scared of losing their jobs for being seen as ‘unreliable’, employers like to pay people as casuals but they definitely don’t want them to have the flexibility of being casual. 

guest2 4 years ago 1 upvotes
Victoria is not in Stage 4 restrictions.   High end retail shops are still open in Collins St, but for how long?   A worker (full time with paid sick leave benefits) turned up for work the other day, and left an hour later complaining they thought they had the flu.  What hope is there when people ignore the directives not to come to work sick?
mamamia-user-482898552 4 years ago 1 upvotes
@guest2 Agree. It's unwise of the Victorian authorities to imply Melbourne is operating at a "stage 4" equivalent at the moment. They are a long way off the kinds of restrictions employed in Europe. They'll have a hard time implementing such measures in the future if they make the public believe they are already at those levels now.