Yahoo Finance Why the next three days are crucial for Victoria
Victoria’s coronavirus curve could begin to flatten within a matter of days, according to the state’s chief health officer.
But that’s only if residents follow strict rules on lockdown measures and health advice from authorities.
Victoria announced another 216 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday. That’s after 288 new cases reported on Friday – the highest daily count for any state since the pandemic began.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters on Saturday measures, including locking down metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire for six weeks, should yield results.
“With respect to stage three restrictions across metro Melbourne and Mitchell Shire, it's in the next three to five days that it should be having an effect,” Professor Sutton said.
“There are challenges, though. Those restrictions limit substantially the number of interactions in homes, socially, outside, but there are people who need to go to work and when you have a significant pressure of infection that we have with numbers now, we know there will be transmission because of the work people have to do and so we can't be guaranteed that will turn around in three to five days.”
He added people needed to continue following health advice, including getting tested if they feel ill.
Professor Sutton said “mobility data”, which essentially shows people moving around and leaving the house, is “showing a very substantial decrease”.
“The numbers of interactions with other people ... we don't know absolutely if people are meeting someone else,” he said.
“But you can get information from Google in terms of driving and pedestrians that gives you an idea of how much people are out and about and how much time [is spent] in their home.
“That's all looking good.”
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