Victoria has recorded 183 new coronavirus cases as the state’s sixth lockdown lingers on.
Around 101 are linked to known cases and outbreaks while the source of the other 82 remains a mystery.
Sunday’s figures take the state’s tally of active cases to 1,417.
Almost 48,500 Victorians came forward for testing while almost 30,000 rolled up their sleeves for the Covid-19 vaccine.
More details will be revealed by health officials later on Sunday amid growing fears about an explosion of cases in a pocket of Melbourne’s west.
Health officials remain on edge, amid fears the latest outbreak could soon surpass Victoria’s horror second wave in 2020 which claimed more than 800 lives, where Melburnians spent 115 days in lockdown.
Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton urged more Victorians to get vaccinated in a desperate battle to hold back the ‘tsunami’ of potential cases.
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Victoria recorded 183 new cases on Sunday amid growing concerns about the rapid spead of the virus in Melbourne’s west
With high case numbers, residents in Melbourne’s west are closely following public orders. (pictured, a family with their groceries in Tarneit)
‘We know people are more than fed up. They are absolutely frustrated and challenged by the lockdown that’s gone on for weeks,’ Professor Sutton told reporters on Saturday.
‘There’s no question that it’s hard, (but) the alternative is too awful to contemplate; tens of thousands of cases could be our reality if we don’t maintain those really tricky constraints on our life.
‘We’ve held back a tsunami of cases for 20 months … we’ve got maybe the biggest challenge we’ve faced, but we’ve got a proper pathway out of here with vaccination.’
He remains hopeful Victoria could reach a ‘plateau’ in cases if vaccination rates stayed high.
‘That is our opportunity and we have to grab it with both hands,’ Professor Sutton said.
‘So hold the line in these last weeks and months until we get the high vaccination coverage.’
Plans are underway to allow fully-vaccinated horseracing fans to attend next month’s Cox Plate.
Almost 30,000 Victorians rolled up their sleeves for the Covid-19 vaccine (pictured a Melbourne vaccination hub)
Other health experts fear the worst for Victoria.
Epidemiologist Professor Adrian Esterman said his modelling revealed daily cases in Victoria could climb to close to 450 within a week and surge to 1834 daily cases by September 23, the date where 70 per cent of eligible Victorians will have received at least one jab.
‘The trouble at the moment is that the epidemic curve for Victoria is now much deeper than NSW was at this point in the outbreak,’ he told The Age.
‘Cases are going to go very fast, unless something else happens, unfortunately.’
Monash University’s epidemiologist James Trauer agreed Victoria’s cases will continue to rise.
‘Melbourne, being a colder and more temperate big city, has always just had more trouble,’ he said.
‘I suspect that [the numbers will] go up substantially over the coming weeks and we’ll see quite a lot of hospitalisations, which is a bit scary.’
Dozens of shops, pharmacies, supermarkets and public transport routes were added to the growing list of exposure sites on Saturday night.
Banks, schools, apartment buildings and fast food outlets also joined the list.
A Costco, Chemist Warehouse and two child care centres were deemed as tier one close contact site, where those who attended any of the venues at the listed times must get tested and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result
Families in Covid-stricken Tarneit (pictured) in Melbourne’s west were spotted out shopping on Saturday wearing face masks
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One Melbourne postcode has borne the brunt of Victoria’s latest Covid outbreak as the Delta variant rips through the city’s west.
The City of Wyndham in west Melbourne, which includes Tarneit, Truganina and Hoppers Crossing, as of Saturday has 110 active infections – the highest in Victoria.
From the state’s 190 cases recorded on Saturday, 11 were from those three suburbs – where the per capita infection rate is far higher than most parts of Australia at 117 per 100,000 people.
Since the pandemic began last year, there have been nearly 1,500 confirmed positive results for residents under the shared postcode in Melbourne’s west.
The LGA as a whole is home to 255,000 residents and has recorded more than 2,500 Covid cases since the start of the pandemic.
The high case numbers in Melbourne’s west have seen residents abiding by Covid laws, notably wearing of face masks in public (pictured, a woman with a coffee in Tarniet)
Last month, the postcode was named as Melbourne’s top coronavirus hotspot, a development labelled ‘concerning’ by local residents.
Rishi Prabhakar, an accountant and mortgage broker, lives with his wife Aanchal and the couple’s two young children in Tarneit.
‘Everybody thinks you are from a different world, the way they treat us,’ he said.
‘Because we have a high number of cases compared to the rest of Victoria. It’s very concerning.’
With Covid cases surging each day across the state, residents were spotted out exercising on Saturday across Melbourne (pictured)
The premier confirmed on Saturday he hopes to start easing restrictions once 70 per cent of Victorians have received their first jab.
That vaccination target could be achieved as early as September 23.
Vaccinated residents are set to receive more freedoms, while unvaccinated Victorians will be ‘locked out’ from venues such as sports stadiums, cinemas and pubs.
Discussions are underway with industry leaders to see how a ‘vaccinated economy’ would work, with the required technology poised for regional Victoria after it exits lockdown.
This graph shows the number of Covid cases per day in Victoria (pictured) as the state endures its sixth lockdown
A digital passport system is set to be rolled out and linked to the Service Victoria app and the federal government’s vaccination certificate.
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Paul Guerra has labelled it the ‘path forward’.
‘It would be as simple as you get a green tick when you check in and you get a green tick if you’ve been vaccinated,’ he said.
‘The person checking it at the venue only has to see two green ticks and you’re allowed in. You only need to look overseas to see that these passports are likely to be an integral part of opening up.’
Currently there are 205 children aged between zero and nine years old infected with Covid, 213 cases aged between ten and 19, 316 in their 20s and 224 are aged in their 30s.
There has also been a marked shift in focus from virus case numbers to vaccination numbers in Victoria this week, as authorities conceded the state cannot return to Covid zero.
As Melbourne endures yet another lockdown, people are exercising in high numbers across the state (pictured)
On Saturday across Victoria, families were out in force at numerous parks and reserves (pictured)
With playgrounds finally re-open, many families took the opportunity to take their kids to local parks and reserves across Victoria (pictured)
‘We are not going to be driving this down to zero. That does not mean the rules are not ongoing. In some respect, we have to try even harder,’ Mr Andrews said.
The premier added it would be unfair to keep the state in lockdown because of the few unvaccinated residents who refused to get the jab.
‘Far from being locked into your house, you will have freedoms that an unvaccinated person is not going to be able to do,’ he said.
‘They will be locked out of a whole range of venues because they could be vaccinated, and they’ve chosen not to.
‘I am not going to lock down the whole state to protect people who won’t protect themselves.’