‘We cannot deny the reality’: another 200-plus Covid-19 case day for Victoria – Stuff.co.nz

The beleaguered Australian state of Victoria received a small amount of good news on Saturday with health officials reporting 216 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, down from the record 288 the previous day.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said a man in his 90s died overnight while 49 remained hospitalised, including 15 in intensive care. He warned of more difficult days ahead, saying: We will see more and more additional cases, that’s the nature of this.”
Victoria has recorded 3560 confirmed cases, and Australia overall has had more than 9000, with 107 deaths.
Queensland is the latest state to close its borders to anyone coming from Victoria.
Victoria, Australia’s second-most populous state after neighboring New South Wales, has been cut off with border closures by other states. All states and territories except NSW had eradicated community transmission of the virus, but Victoria-linked infections are spreading.
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Victoria hopes a second lockdown in Melbourne, Australia’s second-largest city with a population of five million, will curb the spread. It was imposed Wednesday and will last six weeks.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews is telling people to expect more and more coronavirus cases.
As inconvenient and as challenging as it is, we cannot deny the reality of the situation we face, and we cannot pretend that doing anything other than following the rules will get us to the other side of this, Andrews said of the extended lockdown.
Meanwhile, Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration has given provisional approval to the drug remdesivir, an experimental medicine that has shown promise in the recovery time of the most seriously ill Covid-19 patients.
Authorities say remdesivir will be available only to patients who are severely ill, require oxygen or high-level support to breathe, and are in hospital care. It is the only drug licensed by both the United States and the European Union as a treatment for people with severe illness from the coronavirus.

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