Coronavirus update for Victoria - 12 May 2020

The total number of coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in Victoria is 1509 – there have been 17 new cases since yesterday.

There were no new deaths reported yesterday. To date, 18 people have died from coronavirus in Victoria.  Victoria’s last recorded COVID-19 death was on 28 April.

The total number of cases is made up of 799 men and 710 women, with people aged from babies to their early nineties. 

Today’s total number of cases has been reduced as two previously reported positive cases have been reclassified and removed from the overall total.

There have been 164 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Victoria that may have been acquired through community transmission. Currently eight people are in hospital, including four patients in intensive care. 1376 people have recovered.

Of the total 1509 cases, there have been 1247 in metropolitan Melbourne and 224 in regional Victoria. Several cases remain under investigation.

More than 258,000 tests have been taken to date, and many more swabs are still being processed as part of Victoria’s testing blitz. 

The time it takes to complete a test is improving thanks to increased capacity but results generally take from 24 hours to three days from the time of testing to confirm the result. Fifteen laboratories are now analysing swabs - three public reference laboratories, nine public hospital laboratories and three private providers.

Eight of the new confirmed cases are linked to a Melbourne meat processing facility – six staff and two close contacts – taking the total number of cases in this cluster to 85. 

The department is working closely with the company, which agreed to close their facility for 14 days as a precaution to ensure all required steps are taken - including thorough contact tracing, identifying all close contacts, widespread testing and precautionary cleaning.

A new case in a staff member at the McDonald’s Restaurant in Fawkner has also been confirmed, taking the total number of cases in that cluster to three. Ninety-two employees have been tested as a precaution. McDonald’s closed the restaurant to undertake a deep clean. The restaurant will re-open with staff from other stores. All close contacts of confirmed cases have been contacted by the department and will remain in quarantine for 14 days. 

The remaining new cases are under investigation.

"Today’s increase in cases illustrates once again that while we have been flattening the curve, our battle against COVID-19 is far from over," said Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton.

"Victorians have done a remarkable job so far sticking to the coronavirus restrictions and staying at home has saved lives. But now is not the time for complacency.

"Over the past two weeks we have tested more than 160,000 Victorians as part of a major testing blitz across the state, allowing us to gain a better picture of this virus and make informed decisions for Victoria.

"We are asking Victorians to continue this amazing effort and get tested if they have symptoms, because the more tests we do, the more data we have about the prevalence of coronavirus in the community.

"People with common symptoms of coronavirus including fever, chills, cough, sore throat, shortness of breath, runny nose or loss of sense of smell – however mild – are encouraged to get tested."

Media inquiries

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.
• 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.

*Four cases in this LGA initially returned a positive result but were subject to further testing and subsequently returned negative results.