Victoria reported another 394 cases of coronavirus, the lowest single-day rise in the state for 11 days, as PM Daniel Andrews announced additional $60 million in mental health support for Victorians struggling to deal with it.
Mr Andrews also said another 17 Victorians had died as a result of the pandemic, the worst regular toll ever since the pandemic started, taking the overall death toll to 210.
Ten of those deaths was related to the facilities for aged care.
In the most recent estimates, 634 people are in hospital, including 43 in intensive care.
Minister of Mental Health Martin Foley said that $59.7 million will be spent to improve community mental health care and reduce the burden on emergency departments in hospitals as demand for services rises.
Yet support will also be given to provide counselling to nurses and other healthcare staff should they need help in the aftermath of the pandemic.
“The main focus of today’s package is to cope with the surge in demand,” he said.
A total of 2278 cases of coronavirus in Victoria have been from population transmission since the start of the pandemic, with Mr Andrews calling those “mystery cases” the state’s “in many respects, our biggest challenge.”
On Saturday, the second-highest daily number of tests completed, there were 41,416 tests being performed.