Covid 19 coronavirus: Victorian Premier warns of 'third wave'

Name: Focus Live: Seven new Covid-19 cases in New Zealand
Uploaded: 2020-08-15T13:51:20+12:00
Duration: 758 s
Description: There are seven new cases of Covid-19 today. All are in the community and there are no cases in managed isolation. Six cases are linked to the Auckland cluster and one case is being investigated. Video / Chris Tarpey

news.com.au

15 Aug, 2020 04:24 AM2 mins to read

There are seven new cases of Covid-19 today. All are in the community and there are no cases in managed isolation. Six cases are linked to the Auckland cluster and one case is being investigated. Video / Chris Tarpey

The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has made comments about "kicking off a third wave" and potential fourth of coronavirus.

Andrews was responding to questions about easing Covid-19 restrictions in time for Christmas, saying there were "a number of different options".

But he warned if "we let our frustration get the better of us there, and we kinda pretend this second wave is over when it really isn't, and open up when there are too many cases out there, then all we are really doing is we're kicking off a third wave and, potentially, a fourth.

"That is not what we want to do. We need to defeat this as best we can. That's not easy. But it will be much more likely if we all keep making good decisions".

It comes as Victoria's Chief Health Officer said the number of coronavirus cases has "stabilised" and is "is trending down".

"Certainly we are seeing some stabilisation in numbers overall. The number of active cases now in Victoria seems to have stabilised", Professor Brett Sutton said today.

"Our effective reproduction number, the average number of people that one person in fact, is almost certainly below one now."

This number refers to how many people become infected after one person catches the virus. Once the number drops below 1, the number of positive cases should continue to decline.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Photo / Getty Images

"It can get to 0.4, 0.5, if everyone can do the right thing," Prof Sutton said. "That is where it was probably headed to in April when we were in another very substantial lockdown and we saw numbers drop very dramatically."

"If we can get to an effective reproduction number at a similar level we should see a similar reduction over time so that is encouraging."

Victoria today reported 303 new cases of coronavirus. The state also reported four deaths. NSW reported 9 new cases today.

Australia has recorded 22,743 cases of COVID-19 so far with 375 deaths – 289 of which have been in Victoria. The state has also recorded 372 infections and 14 deaths in the last 24 hours.