COVID-19 latest: Victoria records lowest new case figure in a month

Victoria has recorded fewer new COVID-19 cases today than on any day in the past month.

Another 222 people tested positive to coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

It’s the lowest daily figure since July 18, when 217 new cases were recorded.

Sadly, another 17 people have died with COVID-19.

13 of those deaths are connected to aged care.

There are 665 people in hospital, 45 of those receiving intensive care.

32 of those 45 in intensive care are on ventilators.

There are 7274 active cases of the coronavirus in Victoria.

• 1036 of those are health care workers.
• 2024 of those are linked to aged care.

Epidemiologist from the University of Melbourne, Professor Tony Blakely, says he expects daily death figures will drop next week.

“If you’re diagnosed and you’re unfortunate enough to be somebody who is going to die from it, on average it’s two weeks before you die. That means the death counts lag behind by about two weeks,” he told Ross and Russel.

#Covid19VicData for 18 August 2020.

There are 222 new cases of #coronavirus (#COVID19) detected in Victoria in the last 24 hours. We are sad to report that there were 17 deaths. More information will be available later today. pic.twitter.com/xeQx3hnVJX

— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) August 17, 2020

What concerns an epidemiologist about COVID-19 cases in Victoria this week