THE Gannawarra local government area recorded five new cases of COVID-19 yesterday, bringing the active number to 62.
Victoria recorded 7140 new cases and two deaths yesterday, with the number of hospitalisations dropping below 500, to 465.
Four out of five Australians have either had a COVID booster shot or are planning to, according to federal government research showing broad recognition of the importance of the third jab.As of last month, 83 per cent of Australians had received the third shot or were intending to, up from 76 per cent in December.
The strong support for the third dose comes as the Victorian Government weighs up whether to extend its existing two-jab mandate – for Victorians to visit pubs, restaurants and major events – to include boosters.
As of Sunday, 50.8 per cent of Victorians aged over 18 had received three vaccine doses, 93.7 per cent of Victorians aged over 12 had received two doses and 52.2 per cent of Victorian kids aged five to 11 had received one dose.
Meanwhile, more than 1000 Victorians have applied to help vaccinate people across the state as part of a push to expand the vaccination workforce to include health students, retired nurses and other trained workers.
The new vaccinators, many of whom have previous healthcare or vaccinating experience, are joining nurses, allied health professionals, and other health workers in state-run centres.
The training surge comes as the state prepared to end its pandemic Code Brown yesterday, following a steady reduction in hospitalisations and fewer staff furloughs.
The measure has been in place for just over three weeks and led to immediate short-term relief across stretched public hospitals and ambulance services during the Omicron peak.
A further increase to non-urgent elective surgery will also begin – including private hospitals being able to perform up to 50 per cent of all elective surgery in metropolitan Melbourne and up to 75 per cent of all elective surgery in regional areas.
Public hospitals in regional Victoria will be able to resume all category two elective surgery, dependent on workforce availability.
The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the Royal Eye and Ear Hospital will be able to resume all category two procedures, while all other public hospitals in Melbourne will continue to be restricted to emergency and urgent elective surgery.
“A third dose of the vaccine provides the strongest protection from this virus and we now have hundreds more trained staff who are able to help you get a jab,” Health Minister Martin Foley said.
“By helping Victorians in relevant fields get the training they need to support our vaccination program, we’re ensuring health workers can return to their usual jobs and provide care for Victorians in hospitals.”
