Melbourne’s lockdown extended by a week

MELBOURNE’s COVID-19 lockdown will be extended by a week as Victoria records another 20 locally acquired coronavirus cases.

The sources of five of the infections are a mystery, 15 of the new cases are linked to known outbreaks, and 14 were in quarantine during their infectious periods.

Some 23,811 tests were processed in the 24 hours to this morning (Wednesday, August 11), while 41,571 Victorians were vaccinated at state-run hubs.

“Sadly, today the cabinet of the government have met and we have determined to accept the advice of the chief health officer to extend for a further period of seven days, until 11.59pm next Thursday,” Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters this morning.

“This is very challenging, I know, for every single Victorian who would like to be going about their business, they would like to be open and have a degree of freedom that is simply not possible because of this Delta variant.”