Illegal house parties cause record COVID cases
Victorian authorities say illegal gatherings and house parties over the AFL grand final day long weekend are behind the dramatic jump in COVID-19 infections in the state.
The state has recorded 1,438 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and five further deaths. One third of the new cases are linked to weekend gatherings, COVID commander says
The deaths bring the total from this outbreak to 41.
The new cases were detected from 65,497 test results processed on Wednesday. It is a more than 50 per cent increase on the 950 recorded a day earlier.
Premier Daniel Andrews said many of the new infections were “completely avoidable”.
Household visits are banned across the state, but authorities said contact tracing interviews suggested the grand final long weekend saw illegal gatherings that had contributed to spread.
“Hundreds, if not thousands” of the new infections were because of rule breaches, Mr Andrews said.
“I’m not trying to blame anyone, I’m simply trying to explain … how could it have gone up by so much, so fast,” he said.