Victoria to announce more than 600 new coronavirus cases after suffering its worst day

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Victoria could be headed for a New Zealand-style lockdown after suffering its second worst day since the coronavirus pandemic began.

The state recorded 627 new coronavirus cases and eight deaths on Friday, just a day after announcing a record number of cases. 

Victoria had 723 cases on Thursday – the darkest day in Australia since the fight against the virus began. 

As the numbers continue to climb, the government is now looking at additional measures to slow the spread of the disease.

Premier Daniel Andrews was in crisis talks with prime minister Scott Morrison on Thursday night where it is understood a harsher stage-four lockdown was discussed – similar to what was seen in New Zealand.

In New Zealand, the stage-four lockdown saw butchers, bakers, fruit shops, hairdressers and even construction shut down. Businesses such as Bunnings and Kmart closed, and even takeaway food was banned. 

Mr Andrews said an announcement around the possibility of further restrictions will be made as early as Sunday. 

Health authority teams will examine the data to see where transmissions are occurring and if further steps needed to be taken. 

Mr Andrews said it was a critical halfway mark in the six-week lockdown for Greater Melbourne and the Mitchell Shires.

He said analysis would give ‘real time clarity about what’s happening with this virus right now and what we may need to do in order to drive these numbers down further’. 

‘It is clear to us that these numbers are still too high,’ he said. 

‘There can be no economy recovery until we deal with this public health challenge.

‘Exactly what that will be, when it will be, how long it would need to operate for, all of that would be for another day.’ 

A less extreme option would see further restrictions limiting people travelling beyond their immediate neighbourhood for supplies.

Two men in their 50s, two men in their 70s, three men in their 80s and one woman in her 70s were among those who died.

There are now 349 Victorians in hospital, 37 in intensive care.

An emergency department doctor in his 30s is among the ICU patients after contracting the illness.

One in four Victorians who should have been self-isolating were not at home when doorknocked by the ADF on Thursday. 

Mr Andrews said it was ‘disturbing’ to hear that residents were continuing to to go about their business despite returning a positive test.

More than 130 people who had returned a positive test were not isolating properly on Thursday. 

‘It is simply unacceptable for you to have this virus and not be at home, if you are out doing other things,’ he said.

‘A handful will be out getting fresh air — that does not explain these numbers, (which) go well and truly beyond anything like that.’

Victorian authorities are now in a position where the only course of action is to ensure the state is ready for an onslaught of hospital-bound coronavirus patients, a senior government source said.

‘One senior figure in government in Australia has suggested to me that Victoria is too far gone – that it does not have the structures in place to quell the virus through contact tracing,’ Sky News Political Editor Andrew Clenell said on Thursday.

‘Now it just has to make sure it has to have enough ventilators, beds and personal protective equipment.’

Mr Andrews has said the biggest driver for community transmission was people continuing to go to work while unwell. 

He warned earlier this week that ‘next steps may include having to close a number of these industries’. 

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton previously said a New Zealand-style lockdown would not necessarily fix ­Victoria’s ­problems.

‘We have to understand what the dynamics of transmission are in Victoria at this point in time,’ Prof Sutton said.

‘It may well be that it’s an awful impost on the economy and on people’s lives with no material benefit if we go to a New Zealand-style lockdown.

‘We have to understand where the transmission’s occurring and what measures will be most effective in reducing it. We have to be targeted in terms of seeing where the ­issues are and addressing them directly.’

While the daily infection totals in NSW have yet to exceed 20 over the past fortnight, a former federal government official has warned a single ‘super spreader’ event could trigger a Victorian-style outbreak.

‘NSW is not in a good place,’ Grattan Institute health economist and former secretary of the federal health department Stephen Duckett told nine.com.au. 

‘Every day that goes by you’ve got a risk. While the virus is circulating there is always the chance there will be a super spreader event and then you will be in strife.’

Professor of epidemiology at the University of NSW’s Kirby Institute John Kaldor said the cases which posed the largest risk were those not linked to known cases or outbreaks.

The percentage of cases in NSW not linked to known cases is only about 10 per cent, but Professor Kaldor said the virus can ‘move in ways you are not predicting’.

The warnings come as allegations of neglect emerged from the coronavirus-riddled Epping Gardens Aged Care home in Melbourne’s north.

Doctors have claimed patients were left dead in their beds for as long as six hours, The Australian reported.

On Monday, the ratio of staff-patient at the facility – which has yet to respond to the allegations – was reportedly one to 14 – when the normal ratio in public hospitals is one to four or five.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted the nursing home for comment.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said earlier on Thursday he supported the introduction of new measures to slow the virus’s spread in Melbourne, stating case numbers in the ‘Victorian wave’ were very concerning.

‘We have now been in this lockdown for some weeks and we are not getting the results we would hope for. And as a result the further measures that are taken are certainly necessary,’ Mr Morrison said.

Mr Andrews on Thursday banned residents of the Colac-Otway, Greater Geelong, Surf Coast, Moorabool, Golden Plains, and the Borough of Queenscliff local government areas from receiving visitors at home from Friday.

He also extended compulsory mask wearing to the rest of Victoria from 11.59pm on Sunday.

‘It’s inconvenient, it’s challenging, but it’s essentially stage four for Melbourne and it’s something we can do in regional Victoria without causing significant economic cost but get a really significant public health benefit,’ Mr Andrews told reporters on Thursday.

He also warned Melbourne’s crippling lockdown will likely be extended if case numbers continue to rise.

‘Ultimately, every Victorian, I think deep down knows and appreciates that unless everyone plays their part this lockdown will not end anytime soon,’ Mr Andrews said. 

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