There are 739 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria – with 30 active cases in ICU, including 5 on a ventilator, and an additional 6 cleared cases in ICU.
6,288,550 vaccine doses have been administered by Victoria’s state-commissioned services.
68.6 per cent of Victorians aged 16 and over have had 3 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. 94.7 per cent of Victorians aged 12 and over have had 2 doses.
11,176 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded yesterday. This includes 8,224 who tested positive on a Rapid Antigen Test and 2,952 who returned a positive result on a PCR test.
Sadly, the Department was notified of 20 deaths yesterday of people aged in their 70s, 80s, 90s and 100s. The total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began is 4,111. The number of COVID-19 deaths recorded in Victoria so far in 2022 is 2500.
There are 58,357 active cases in Victoria.
14,865 PCR tests were processed yesterday. The total number of PCR tests performed in Victoria since the pandemic began is 21,572,397.
Updates
Third Omicron wave with BA.4/BA.5 now dominant in Victoria
The Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants, which are now dominant along the east coast of Australia, are expected to continue to cause increases in new cases, reinfections and hospital admissions – with an 83 per cent increase in the number of Victorians in hospital with COVID-19 over the last 3 weeks.
The rate of BA.4/BA.5 in clinical genomic surveillance and metropolitan and regional wastewater catchments continues to rise significantly. BA.4/BA.5 have become the dominant strains in clinical genomic samples, rising to 70 per cent in the 2 weeks prior to 8 July. The BA.4/BA.5 sub-lineages were first identified in Victorian wastewater catchments in April and have since risen from under 5 per cent in late May to an average of 66 per cent across all catchments by 4 July.
Case and hospitalisation trends are increasing in Victoria. This is in line with similar patterns globally and in other Australian jurisdictions, which have seen a significant rise in the number of people hospitalised with COVID-19 in recent weeks.
This is because the strains have a greater ability than BA.2 to evade immunity provided by vaccination and earlier COVID-19 infection. There is no evidence at this stage that the BA.4/BA.5 sub-lineages causes more severe disease, but the Department is closely monitoring the situation.
This 3rd wave of the Omicron variant is expected to peak in August. The impact of this can be reduced through immediate preventative measures and community actions.
COVID advice for Victorians to stay well in winter
The Victorian Government is providing Victorians with more advice about how they can protect themselves and their families this winter, with enhanced communications, community engagement and outreach, and support for business to keep customers and workers safe and their doors open.
A significant new investment will boost public health messaging and engagement efforts with the community to encourage third and fourth COVID-19 vaccination doses, flu vaccination, the benefits of wearing a mask and maximizing ventilation indoors. The Stay Well in Winter campaign will run across TV, radio, outdoor and digital channels.
