Isolation payment boosted as COVID-19 concern grows in three regional Victorian towns

The state government is launching a COVID-19 testing blitz in three major regional Victorian towns in a bid to curb COVID-19 outbreaks.

Additional testing centres will open in Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo tomorrow.

There are currently 482 active coronavirus cases in regional Victoria.

“This is all about encouraging anybody with any symptoms … to come forward and get tested,” Premier Daniel Andrews said while announcing the blitz.

Geelong:

There have been 176 cases detected in the past 14 days.

“There are certainly some outbreaks, some cases, where we don’t know where they’re coming from,” Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said.

Ballarat:

There have been 23 cases detected in the past 14 days, linked to three unrelated outbreaks.

Bendigo:

There have been 51 cases detected in the past two weeks.

“Quite a high proportion of these are attributed to known outbreaks,” Professor Cheng said.

The state government will also increase the isolation payment for people awaiting COVID-19 results, who do not have sick leave, from $300 to $450.

Public hospitals will take over operations at three aged care homes struggling to battle COVID-19 outbreaks: Glenlyn Aged Care in Glenroy, Florence Aged Care and Calina Aged Care.