Daniel Andrews extends the power of the pandemic for three months.Victoria COVID-19 cases increased by 44,155 cases, 4 deaths

The number of cases in Victoria on Sunday was higher than that in NSW for the second consecutive day, with NSW recording 30,062 cases. However, New South Wales reported the worst day since the pandemic began, with 16 deaths from the virus and 1927 hospitalized in the state’s COVID-19.

Mr According to Weimar, about 9,000 rapid antigen tests reported on Sunday were recorded on Saturday, with the remaining 22,051 positive tests being done at the beginning of the week.

“We had another good day in terms of reporting via the online portal,” Weimar said.

“It really helps to build a complete picture of how COVID is moving through the Victorian community, but it’s very important to help get care and support as needed.”

“Looking at the increasing results of daily rapid antigen tests related to the same day, in the next few days, (most of) the test results will be related to the day when they are actually tested and returned positive. I expect it. “He said.

Melbourne Pathology, a private clinic that did not open its PCR testing site to the public earlier this week to address the backlog, We sent a text message on Saturday to inform the test patients that the sample could not be processed.

“The COVID-19 PCR sample is no longer suitable for testing and we can no longer provide results,” said the text message. “If you are currently symptomatic, assume that you are positive and perform a rapid antigen test or repeat the PCR swab check as needed.”

Weimar said the Ministry of Health was in contact with Melbourne pathology and agreed that it was “almost useless” in the analysis of tests older than 7 days.

He apologized to more than 7,000 people who were informed by the pathologist that they would not receive PCR test results.

“If you’re still symptomatic and still worried about that cohort, be sure to come forward and have another PCR test and work with us,” Weimar said.

He said he believes Melbourne Pathology has made the right “strong and bold” decision.

Melbourne Pathology, along with 4Cyte, ACL, and Dorevitch, was one of four private pathology labs that closed the test center to process test backlogs from Tuesday. The provider operates a total of 54 test sites in Victoria, with 4 Cyte occupying 41.

Delta variants were detected in less than 20% of new cases in Victoria

Health officials say that more than 80% of positive cases are now likely to be variant of concern for Omicron, and the rest are still likely to be delta strains.

“I see Omicron significantly replacing the Delta here in Victoria,” Weimar said.

This figure is up from 76% of positive cases of Omicron reported by the Ministry of Health last weekend and is associated with samples taken from positive cases during Christmas.

There are currently 146,863 active cases in Victoria, with more than 83,993 PCR test results returned on Saturday.

About 16% of Victorians receive a third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

No change to return to school: Alan

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Deputy Prime Minister Jacinta Allan said there were no planned changes to students returning to school in Victoria.

“Our focus here in Victoria is our plans to return to school, where vaccination is part of it,” she said on Sunday.

“We also need to make sure we’re doing this safely. It’s about school settings, workplace settings, or broader health settings. We’re obviously epidemiology of the day, cases. We are paying close attention to the pressure on our health care system in terms of numbers, and the common sense measures we have taken or may need to take in the future. “

She said she already had more than 35,000 reservations for children aged 5 to 11 to get the vaccine in Victoria, and that cohort could be vaccinated against COVID-19 from Monday. rice field.

“For parents who may be worried about securing their children’s reservations, I really want to emphasize and ensure that 46,700 children aged 5 to 11 are currently available,” she said. Told.

Ambulance response times worsen as students and volunteers fill the emergency medical shift

As the situation at COVID-19 in Victoria worsens, surf life savers, students and other volunteers are filling hundreds of emergency medical shifts each week in Victoria as a critical measure to provide emergency medical care. increase.

According to sources close to the Victorian ambulance, ambulance response times have been the worst ever, with less than 70% of Code 1 emergencies being responded within 15 minutes, and rescuers usually waiting for patients for more than 5 hours. increase. Overrun the emergency department.

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The service deals with record cases of COVID-19, but according to sources not allowed to speak publicly, it is not uncommon to receive about 1900 emergency calls daily and response times. The deterioration was mainly due to a shortage of staff throughout the medical institution. system.

They found that at some large Melbourne metropolitan hospitals, the average travel time between ambulance staff and hospitals was 70 minutes, with paid and unpaid students and volunteers almost half of Melbourne’s ambulance staff. He said he was working all night.

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