Surge in Australia's Victoria Covid-19 Cases Prompts Addition of Hospital Beds

MELBOURNE, KOMPAS.com — On Thursday, Australia’s Victoria Covid-19 cases reached 317 new infections in a day prompting government officials to add hospital beds.

Victoria state reported a daily record of 428 new Covid-19 cases on July 17 amid increased testing in the Melbourne area.

The local government has sought to monitor the transmission of the Covid-19 virus.

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On Friday, the majority of new Covid-19 cases and three Covid-19 deaths were in Melbourne.

There is a nationwide total of 116 Covid-19 deaths reported so far in Australia as of July 17.

As Victoria's Covid-19 cases surge, the government has responded by reducing non-urgent surgeries.

The move is expected to allow hospitals to increase their hospital bed capacity for Covid-19 patients, according to Australia’s Health Minister Jenny Mikakos.

Melbourne and neighboring semi-rural Mitchell Shire have been locked down since last week and authorities hope the restrictions will soon bring a plateauing of infections.

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Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews stated that it is too early to tell if the imposed six-week lockdown in Melbourne is effective because it was only a week old.

On Friday, Daniel Andrews says only five of the new cases are in parts of the state not in lockdown.

He says the government is increasing the number of testing sites outside Melbourne.

“It will take some time to bring that stability to the numbers and then of course to start to see a pattern where they are driven down,” Andrews said.

Australia's highest daily tally before Thursday was 288 in Victoria on July 10.