VICTORIA has reported a second straight day without any new COVID-19 cases or deaths as active cases continue to drop.<\/p>\n
It comes after the state also recorded no new infections on Saturday with an expert panel ruling one case a false positive.<\/p>\n
“Another very good day for Victoria,” Deputy Premier James Merlino said at a press conference this morning.<\/p>\n
“This is really a result of the outstanding efforts of all Victorians in getting these cases down to the state at which they are.”<\/p>\n
Sunday’s statistics coincide with Melbourne’s gradual emergence from strict lockdown conditions, including a possible return to city offices before Christmas.<\/p>\n
There is one mystery case of coronavirus without a known source in Melbourne and the city’s average daily case count for the fortnight up to Saturday was 2.2.<\/p>\n
It means the state’s COVID-19 death toll remains at 819, and 907 for the nation.<\/p>\n
There are just 61 active cases left across the state, down from 70 on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said Victoria could be down to “a couple of dozen” active cases by next week.<\/p>\n
“You’ll see 10 or more come off each day and we’ll get down to very few active cases,” he said.<\/p>\n
Two Victorians remain in hospital, with none in intensive care.<\/p>\n
Nearly\u00a016,000 tests were taken in the past 24 hours, with Professor Sutton saying it verified Sunday’s result was a “true zero”.<\/p>\n
He said metropolitan Melbourne was still on track to ease restrictions on 8 November, including the scrapping of the “ring of steel” dividing the city from the regions along with the 25-kilometer travel limit.<\/p>\n
“What allowances come on November 8 will absolutely be informed by what this week looks like.<\/p>\n
“Some of the details might change but November 8 will be the date (of) that new refresh of public health directions.”<\/p>\n
Professor Sutton said mandatory masks would remain part of Victorians’ daily lives for some time to combat potential transmission despite less virus circulating in the community.<\/p>\n
But he hinted future changes could be on the way.<\/p>\n
“Clearly we should be transitioning and we will be transitioning from universal mask-wearing to maybe indoors only, to maybe just high-risk settings, at the appropriate time,” he said.<\/p>\n