Coronavirus update for Victoria - 20 September 2021

Victoria was notified of 567 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. All were locally acquired.

There are 5,675 active cases in Victoria – 5,673 locally acquired and two overseas-acquired cases.

There are 209 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria. 59 of those cases are in intensive care, with 40 cases on a ventilator.

Sadly, the Department was notified yesterday of the death of a woman from Moreland aged in her 70s.

The total number of confirmed cases in Victoria since the beginning of the pandemic is 29,008.

Restrictions

The City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast Shire and Mitchell Shire are in lockdown. For more information, see Seven day lockdown: Geelong, Surf Coast and Mitchell Shire.

Details on Victoria’s Roadmap can be found at Victoria's roadmap.

Changes to Extreme Risk Zones in New South Wales means the border bubble permit exemption is again in effect (excluding Albury, which remains an Extreme Risk Zone.

For more information, see Information for cross border communities.

The New South Wales Local Government Area of Edward River Council has been re-added to the cross-border community.

Vaccines

Yesterday, a record 39,939 vaccine doses were administered by Victoria’s state-commissioned services. The total number of doses administered through state-run services is 3,159,729.

More than 72 per cent of Victorians aged 16 and over have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and almost 44 per cent have had both.

There are currently around 2800 Pfizer appointments and 4800 AstraZeneca appointments available over the next seven days.

Outbreaks

Of the 567 cases recorded yesterday, the following Local Government Areas recorded more than one newly diagnosed case yesterday:

• 7 cases in Banyule
• 1 case in Bayside
• 22 cases in Brimbank
• 9 cases in Cardinia
• 10 cases in Casey
• 12 cases in Darebin
• 1 case in Glen Eira
• 13 cases in Greater Dandenong
• 11 cases in Hobsons Bay
• 229 cases in Hume
• 5 cases in Kingston
• 2 cases in Knox
• 6 cases in Manningham
• 1 case in Maribyrnong
• 1 case in Maroondah
• 12 cases in Melbourne
• 23 cases in Melton
• 1 case in Monash
• 18 cases in Moonee Valley
• 47 cases in Moreland
• 1 case in Mornington Peninsula
• 1 case in Port Phillip
• 2 cases in Whitehorse
• 59 cases in Whittlesea
• 51 cases in Wyndham
• 5 cases in Yarra
• 1 case in Yarra Ranges.

There were 12 cases notified in regional Victoria yesterday – 5 in Ballarat, 2 in Moorabool, 1 in Mitchell, 1 in Macedon Ranges, 1 in Moira and 1 in South Gippsland.

Note: 2 cases earlier today reported in Mitchell Shire are in Whittlesea, located close to the municipal border.

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

Around 63 per cent of cases identified in Victoria yesterday are in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, with about 24 per cent in Melbourne’s western suburbs.

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

Of the COVID-19 patients in hospital yesterday, 86 per cent are not vaccinated and 12 per cent are partially vaccinated. Three people were fully vaccinated.

There are currently more than 21,000 active primary close contacts in isolation in Victoria.

At midday today, there were more than 700 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.

Wastewater testing

COVID-19 viral fragments have been detected in wastewater samples taken from the following regional areas:

• Aireys Inlet and Fairhaven – there has been a third unexpected detection. The period of interest is 7 to 17 September.
• Moe area – there have been four unexpected detections in an area that includes Moe, Newborough, Trafalgar, Yallourn and Yarragon. The period of interest is 13 to 17 September.

The detections could be an undiscovered new case or cases or could be the result of one or more people in these areas who have recovered from COVID-19 but are still shedding the virus.

Anyone who lives in, works in or has visited the areas above 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

50,915 COVID-19 tests were processed yesterday.

Getting tested as soon as you have symptoms will help health authorities identify new positive cases and provide proper care for your family.

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 support.

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

More information

To access the most up-to-date information on COVID-19 in Victoria, visit Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vicotria or call the 24-hour Coronavirus Hotline on 1800 675 398.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can also call the Victorian Aboriginal COVID Information Line on 1800 312 911. Callers will speak with Aboriginal staff who can answer questions about COVID-19 and direct them to relevant support services. The information line is open from 9 am to 5 pm, 7 days a week.

Latest statewide numbers (data reported to 11:59pm yesterday):