Victoria has seen its deadliest 24 hours of the coronavirus pandemic with a record 725 new cases and 15 deaths, including a man in his 30s.
It comes as sweeping stage four restrictions are set to ramp up tonight shutting down vast swathes of the economy, with the state now enforcing the world’s toughest COVID-19 lockdown.
“They are always difficult decisions to make, always difficult lines to draw and lists to write and we apologise for the pain and the hurt that those lists, that those sorts of decisions make necessary,” Premier Daniel Andrews said this morning.
“But these are the decisions I’ve made because they are the only option we have in order to try and drive these numbers down.”
Follow our live coverage of Victoria’s COVID-19 lockdown.
Daniel Andrews has confirmed the man in his 30s who died was not a healthcare worker.
The Victorian Premier declined to reveal too much information in order not to identify the man, and could not say whether he had any underlying health conditions.
“I’m sure you appreciate … I have to be careful not to identify him,” he said.
“That may be appropriate, but that’s a matter for the family.”The man reportedly died at Maroondah Hospital in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs.
Mr Andrews pointed out that “it shouldn’t have to get to a tragedy for people to acknowledge that this is a virus that affects everyone”.
“But if that’s what it takes – we’re terribly saddened by this – but hopefully no one misses that point, that this is something (that doesn’t only affect) those who are frail and aged. It can be deadly and it has been deadly here and around the world in people of all age groups and, indeed, people that are in otherwise good health.”
He added, “I make no comment beyond the age and gender of that person and they were not a health worker. If we can give you more, then of course we will, but I think you’d understand that we have to be guided by the wishes of the family.”
Source – News.com.au
