Statewide lockdown to be extended by seven days

VICTORIA’S lockdown will be extended for seven days, with Premier Daniel Andrews saying the state needs more time to get on top of the latest COVID-19 outbreak.

This morning (Tuesday, July 20), Mr Andrews confirmed the lockdown would be in effect until at least July 27, hours before it was originally flagged to end.

The state recorded nine new locally acquired cases of coronavirus on Tuesday and a total of 13 new local infections in the previous 24 hours.

Four of the 13 cases were previously announced by authorities.

Twelve of the cases are linked to the current outbreaks of the Delta variant in the state, which originated in NSW, while one case remains under investigation.

Nine of the cases were in isolation during their infectious period.

Two of the four reported cases are linked to an outbreak at the restaurant Ms Frankie in Cremorne, while two are household contacts of a person who contracted the virus at the Geelong-Carlton game at the MCG on July 10.

All four were isolating throughout their infectious period.

The state also recorded two cases in hotel quarantine, bringing the total number of infections to 96.