Victorian Covid cases rocket back up to 1,683

Victorian Covid cases rocket back up to 1,683 after dipping from a pandemic high and could rise to as many as 3,000 – with vulnerable young cancer patients exposed to the virus

  • The Covid-positive parent of patient has cause alert for a Melbourne hospital 
  • The parent spent four days at the cancer ward of the Royal Children’s Hospital  
  • Kookaburra cancer ward is a Tier 1 exposure site with contact tracing underway 


Victorian Covid cases have rocketed back up to 1,638, the second-most recorded in a single day in Australia in the whole pandemic.

Infections dipped on Wednesday to 1,420 after a high of 1,763 the day before, but that appears to not be the start of a turnaround in the outbreak.

Four people also died while positive with Covid and that number is expected to get worse as more sick and unvaccinated Victorians enter hospital.

The new cases were diagnosed form 62,189 tests and 35,253 vaccine doses were administered in state-run facilities on Wednesday.

Busy St Kilda Beach on the weekend, with lockdown fatigue setting in across the city a possible contributor to skyrocketing infections

Experts last week predicted Victoria’s outbreak could peak at up to 3,000 a day in mid-October before it started to fall, as NSW’s has for a few weeks.

Other think that is too pessimistic about 2,000 is more likely within the next few weeks. 

Authorities are racing to identify all vulnerable young patients who were exposed to a Covid-19 outbreak at a Melbourne children’s hospital cancer ward.

A patient’s parent spent at least four days at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Parkville while infectious, with the exposure period stretching from October 1 to October 4.

A hospital spokeswoman said contact tracing was still underway on Wednesday night, and as a result these dates may change.

The hospital’s Kookaburra cancer care ward has been identified as a tier one exposure site, and its main street walkway has been listed as a tier two site for September 26.

An infected parent of a patient visited Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital (pictured) Kookaburra ward over four days from Saturday to Monday and has recently tested positive to Covid-19 forcing the ward to go into lockdown

An infected parent of a patient visited Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital (pictured) Kookaburra ward over four days from Saturday to Monday and has recently tested positive to Covid-19 forcing the ward to go into lockdown

RCH chief executive Bernadette McDonald said all affected patients, parents or carers have been placed into single rooms at the hospital to quarantine for 14 days, with contact tracing for all others underway.

No children in the cancer ward had tested positive as of Wednesday evening, but the hospital has 12 Covid-positive patients in its care, four in other wards and eight being treated at home.

Ms McDonald said some children are turning up to the hospital with other illnesses or injuries and then testing positive for Covid.

But she said: ‘We’re not seeing extreme illness in children.’

It comes as Victoria recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic’s third wave, after 11 people were reported to have died with Covid-19 on Wednesday. The state also reported 1420 new locally acquired cases.

Victoria recorded another surge of infections on yesterday with hundreds of Year 12 students forced into isolation (pictured: a melbourne vaccination hub in October)

Victoria recorded another surge of infections on yesterday with hundreds of Year 12 students forced into isolation (pictured: a melbourne vaccination hub in October) 

The state government has announced Victorians stranded in the ACT and NSW will be able to return home as border restrictions eased overnight.

Areas considered red zones in NSW and the ACT have been downgraded to orange zones, allowing residents and non-residents to enter Victoria if they take a test within 72 hours of arrival and isolate until receiving a negative result.

Meanwhile, extreme risk zone classifications for locked-down areas such as Greater Sydney have been downgraded to red, meaning people can return if they isolate at home for 14 days.

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