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Victoria has recorded 1029 new coronavirus cases and three deaths, as the state closes in on its 90 per cent double-dosed vaccination target and the Andrews government looks set to scrape together enough support to pass its controversial proposed pandemic legislation.
The figures bring Victoria’s total number of active COVID-19 cases to 9533.
People wait to be vaccinated at Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building. Credit:Getty
The 10 local government areas with the most new cases were: Wyndham, Melton, Casey, Hume, Greater Dandenong, Whittlesea, Brimbank, Glen Eira, Moreland, and the Mornington Peninsula.
There are 316 people in the state’s hospitals with the virus, 98 in intensive care and 23 on a ventilator.
Fifty-four people in ICU have been cleared of the virus.
The people who died were aged in their 70s, 80s, and 90s. Their deaths bring the total number of lives lost in Victoria since the pandemic began to 1280.
On Sunday, 49,818 COVID-19 tests were processed across the state.
Another 3510 people rolled up their sleeves for a coronavirus vaccine at a state-run hub, bringing Victoria’s vaccination rate to 89.3 per cent of the population aged over 12 fully vaccinated. In the same population, 93.5 per cent have had a first jab.
Premier Daniel Andrews said last week that the impending 90 per cent milestone made Victoria "one of the most vaccinated places in the world".
"And that means we are one of the safest places in the world. And we should be one of the proudest places in the world," he said.
It comes as the state government will this week focus its efforts on two key crossbench MPs as it tries to garner enough support in Parliament's upper house for its proposed pandemic legislation.
Clifford Hayes of the Sustainable Australia Party and Rod Barton of the Transport Matters Party represent the government’s best hopes of a deal to secure the bill’s passage into law, according to several parliamentary insiders speaking on the condition of anonymity.
But Mr Hayes said he was “not persuadable” and the government needed to agree to a “complete reworking” of the provisions of its bill, while Mr Barton said on Sunday that he was several days or a week away from finalising his list of amendments.
On Saturday, tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Melbourne's CBD to demonstrate against the state government's pandemic laws and COVID-19 vaccination policies.
Critics say the pandemic bill powers are too far-reaching and do not allow for proper parliamentary scrutiny of decisions.
The peaceful protest capped off a week of demonstrations at State Parliament where there were some ugly scenes including the parading of gallows.
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