No new coronavirus cases have emerged for 12 days in Melbourne’s South East.
As of 29 April figures, cases remain at 53 in Casey, 14 in Greater Dandenong and 13 in Cardinia council areas.
In the meantime, a mini-spike of seven new cases were recorded in Victoria yesterday – not including a suspected cluster under investigation at an eastern-suburbs private nursing home.
There have been 1361 Covid-19 infections in Victoria, including 18 deaths and nine currently in intensive-care.
Of the total, 1291 people have recovered.
The State Government will expand its Hotels for Heroes free accommodation program beyond hospital staff, paramedics and patient transport staff.
So far, 82 workers had taken up the offer to self-isolate away from home.
The hotel and apartment rooms will be available to Victoria Police, Youth Justice, Corrections Victoria and firefighters involved in medical emergencies.
Staff at disability-supported residences, public sector aged care homes, Aboriginal health organisations, hospital labs, community-based pharmacy and primary-care health workers will also be eligible.
Police and Emergency Services Minister Lisa Neville said the free accommodation would keep safe the “frontline” workers and those they live with and help slow the spread of coronavirus.
“Our police, firefighters and other emergency service workers are on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus, alongside our nurses and paramedics – we’re ensuring they also have a safe place to stay if they need it.”
“Giving more workers access to free accommodation if they need to self-isolate will keep them and those they live with safe, and help slow the spread of coronavirus.”
Disability, Ageing and Carers Minister Luke Donnellan said: “Our frontline workers already do so much to look after the rest of us, the least we can do is give them the peace of mind that they’ve got a free, safe place to go if they need it.”
The State Government has announced a two-week Covid-19 blitz of 100,000 tests. It is encouraging people with “even the mildest symptoms” such as a runny nose and sore throat to get tested.
The testing results will help decide Victoria’s course of action beyond the State of Emergency, which wil be reviewed on 11 May.
“We are now asking Victorians to again play their part and get tested if they have symptoms, because the more tests we do, the more data we have about the prevalence of coronavirus in the community,” the state’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.
“Our daily case numbers are still low which is encouraging. They prove that our physical distancing measures are working but this is not a time to relax our strong approach – this disease can get away from you very quickly as we have seen overseas.”
