There are 183 new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria.
Health authorities on Sunday reported the additional coronavirus patients, adding that 101 of the cases are linked to known cases and outbreaks.
The state’s chief health officer continues to urge more people to get vaccinated in order to hold back the “tsunami” of potential cases.
State-run clinics administered 29,950 vaccines on Saturday.
About 25,000 AstraZeneca vaccination bookings remained available over the next week, Brett Sutton said.
“We know people are more than fed up. They are absolutely frustrated and challenged by the lockdown that’s gone on for weeks,” he told reporters.
“There’s no question that it’s hard, (but) the alternative is too awful to contemplate; tens of thousands of cases could be our reality if we don’t maintain those really tricky constraints on our life.
“We’ve held back a tsunami of cases for 20 months. We’ve got maybe the biggest challenge we’ve faced, but we’ve got a proper pathway out of here with vaccination.”
Statistics provided on Saturday revealed there were 76 people in Victorian hospitals, including 23 in intensive care.
None of those people have been fully vaccinated.
Prof Sutton said Victoria could reach a plateau if vaccination rates stayed high and virus cases stayed under control.
“That is our opportunity and we have to grab it with both hands,” he said.
“So hold the line in these last weeks and months until we get the high vaccination coverage.”
Victorian businesses struggling amid extended lockdowns will share in more than $2.3 billion of government support.
The Victorian government will split $2.34 billion in funding with the federal government to support more than 175,000 businesses over the next four weeks.
Most of the payments will be automatically deposited into the businesses’ bank accounts.
AAP
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