Australia has recorded its deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic on Monday after 25 people died owing to Covid-19 overnight. All 25 deaths were recorded in Victoria, Australia’s second most populous state. The previous highest tally was 21 deaths last Wednesday.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said 22 of the 25 deaths were linked to aged care outbreaks.
Meanwhile Victoria reported 283 new cases in the past 24 hours, its second consecutive day where new case numbers were under 300. Those numbers are well below the peak of more than 700 daily cases in Victoria earlier this month and officials are confident a strict lockdown in Melbourne is working.
“There’s good cause for people to be hopeful for the future but we just can’t allow any sense of complacency to creep in,” Premier Andrews said.
NSW was the only other state on Monday to report new COVID-19 cases, with seven detected in the past 24 hours.
Australia has been lauded for its handling of the Covid-19 health crisis, with total numbers of cases and fatalites still far less than many developed nations across the world.