Victoria is set to record 532 new cases of coronavirus

Victoria has suffered a record 532 new cases of coronavirus as the Prime Minister warns ‘there is a long way to go’ before the numbers come down.

Six more Victorians have died overnight, including five residents in aged care and a man in his 50s. 

Some 245 people are in hospital with 44 in intensive care.  

Premier Daniel Andrews warned that Melbourne’s six-week lockdown, which began on 9 July, may need to be extended as it fails to stop the virus spreading.

He urged people not to go to work if they are ill after outbreaks were discovered in meatworks, aged care homes, law firms and other workplaces. 

‘We have too many people who have symptoms and are going to work. That is what is driving these numbers up,’ Mr Andrews said.

‘The lockdown will not end until people stop going to work with symptoms and instead go and get tested because they have symptoms.’ 

The Premier said the ‘next stage’ of lockdown ‘may include’ shutting down businesses where outbreaks are happening. 

The case total is higher than Sunday’s count of 459 as a second wave of the deadly disease continues to ravage the state. 

National deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said the lockdown should have brought case numbers down by now but coronavirus is ‘deeply embedded’ in Australia’s second-biggest city.

‘The virus is deeply embedded within the community in Victoria,’ he told Nine’s Today program.

But Dr Coatsworth said there are some signs for hope as the lockdown succeeds in preventing movement. 

‘We know that Victorians in those lockdown zones are mixing far less, the movement data shows us we’re about where we were in that first wave when the curve started to flatten.

‘The other bit of silver lining is that those numbers, whilst deeply concerning, are bouncing between about 350 and 450 a day and certainly we’re not seeing doubling during the week, which has to be a good thing.’

Prime Minister Scott Morrison today said Victoria ‘has a long way to go’ before the huge daily totals are reduced. 

‘In Victoria, there is still a long way to go. We are still seeing case numbers at elevated levels and so, as we have seen from other jurisdictions, when you get community-based transmission, it does take some time to get that down. 

‘We saw that in the UK. We saw it in Europe. We have seen it in other places,’ he said. 

Mr Morrison said Premier Daniel Andrews ‘will be taking advice’ from health experts on whether lockdown will need to be extended. 

Hundreds of Victorian aged care residents and staff are battling COVID-19 while families struggle to check on their loved ones, with the death toll expected to rise in the nation’s hardest-hit state.

Mr Morrison called on Victorians to follow the state’s lockdown rules to help stop community transmission.

‘When you have problems in aged care, it is a function of the community transmission,’ he said. 

‘If you want to protect the most vulnerable in our community, that is why it is so important.’ 

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton said the second wave was ‘difficult and complex’ to deal with. 

‘Certainly, these are very challenging numbers, we’re at a very challenging stage with this wave,’ he said. 

Professor Sutton said this wave is different to the first because most patients were younger, meaning they go to work.

‘Our areas of transmission are occurring in workplaces, mostly essential workplaces,’ he said. 

He warned of more deaths in aged care homes which have suffered outbreaks. 

There are now 84 cases linked to St Basil’s Home for The Aged in Fawkner; 77 in Epping Gardens Aged Care; 62 in Menarocklife aged care in Essendon; 53 in Glendale aged care in Werribee; 57 in Kirkbrae Presbyterian homes in Kilsyth; and 50 in Estia aged care in Heidelberg.

Victoria recorded Australia’s highest single daily death toll of the pandemic on Sunday with 10 deaths and 459 new cases.

Seven of Sunday’s deaths were linked to outbreaks at aged care facilities, while the youngest was a man aged in his 40s.

St Basil’s has been taken over by the federal government to bring the deadly situation under control, including a call centre for families to get information on their loved ones.

The federal government held an online information session with families of residents at St Basil’s on Sunday night, after they gathered at the facility earlier in the day.

Nicholas Barboussas was told by St Basil’s at the weekend his father was in the home and doing well, after he was already told by Northern Hospital his father was fighting for life.

Mr Barboussas told Nine’s Today program the family managed to FaceTime with the ill grandfather before he passed away on Sunday, after Victoria’s official case and toll figures were announced.

‘We saw a smile on dad’s face when he saw us and especially his grand kids. And it was comforting for us to see him albeit in a pretty bad way,’ he said.

Other families said they did not know if their relatives were transferred to hospital with COVID-19 or what their condition was.

‘We understand the emotional impact the situation is having on residents, staff and families,’ Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said in a statement.

The federal government has set up a call centre so families can get information about their loved ones.

On Sunday Premier Andrews said Victorians refusing to wear face masks amid the nation’s deadly coronavirus crisis are ‘selfish’.

Most Victorians have been doing the right thing after it was made mandatory last week for people in locked-down Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire to wear face coverings when outside, Mr Andrews said.

Other Victorians are expected to wear masks when the 1.5m social distancing can’t be done.

‘If you are just making a selfish choice that your alleged personal liberty, quoting something you’ve read on some website – this is not about human rights,’ Mr Andrews said.

‘There are 10 families that are going to be burying someone in the next few days. Wear a mask.’

Videos released on social media of a woman challenging Bunnings workers who asked her to wear a mask to enter a store and calling out a post office worker have also sparked community outrage.

Stores like Bunnings operate on private property and have a right to make requests of customers, including that they wear masks.

The woman in question told the Bunnings worker she was being discriminated against and the request was against the law and her human rights.

Dr Coatsworth said it was ‘disturbing’ to see people attacking others who are doing their job.

‘It is not a human rights issue to decide not to wear a mask,’ he told the Today Show on Monday.

‘I just can’t see how it takes away someone’s human rights or individual liberty to just have to put a face covering on at the request of government. It is simple. We know it’s effective. We know it’s the time to do it.’

Dr Coatsworth praised the overall efforts of Victorians to stay home or wear masks when out in public.

‘It sounds so simple. We realise it’s difficult. The quicker we do that together the quicker the curve will bend down the other side,’ he said.

Police said on Sunday that 126 fines were issued in the past 24 hours.

Twenty $200 fines were handed out to people for failing to wear a mask, including to a man and a woman who refused to give police details when they were stopped.

The state reported a record 10 new deaths for COVID-19, taking the state’s toll to 61 and the country’s to 155.