BALLARAT COVID UPDATE | Wednesday, December 8
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NEW CASES: 5 (up from 4 yesterday)
ACTIVE CASES: 48 (down from 53 yesterday)
Ballarat has recorded five new COVID cases in the 24 hours to midnight on Tuesday, although active cases have once again fallen.
There are now 48 active cases in the city, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
This figure was as high as 56 at the start of the week.
Of the five new Ballarat cases, three were in the 3350 postcode and one was in the 3355 postcode.
The remaining case is difficult to identify specifically where it was from, as the expansive 3351 postcode had one case and the 3352 postcode had three cases. Both postcodes include portions of Ballarat.
In the shires surrounding Ballarat, Golden Plains and Pyrenees both had two new cases, Moorabool had one case and there were no cases in Hepburn.
VICTORIAN COVID UPDATE | Wednesday, December 8
NEW CASES: 1,312 (up from 1,185 yesterday)
DEATHS: 5 (down from 7 yesterday)
ACTIVE CASES: 11,331 (down from 13,050 yesterday)
IN HOSPITAL: 303 (up from 297 yesterday)
IN ICU: 51 (up from 47 yesterday)
ON VENTILATOR: 27 (up from 25 yesterday)
Victoria has reported 1312 new COVID-19 infections and a further five deaths, as health authorities await genomic sequencing results from a suspected Omicron variant case.
The health department on Wednesday confirmed the state is managing 11,331 active cases, down from 13,050 on Tuesday.
There are 303 patients in hospital, 97 of whom are in intensive care and 27 requiring ventilation.
Intensive care numbers and people requiring a ventilator have been growing steadily for the past week.
The seven-day hospitalisation average sits at 297.
Testers processed 79,490 results on Tuesday, while 3858 people were vaccinated in state-run hubs.
More than 91 per cent of Victorians over 12 are fully vaccinated.
In Ballarat, the number of active cases fell in the city yesterday for the first time in two weeks.
Although today's figures are yet to be released, Tuesday's numbers showed there were 53 active cases in Ballarat.
There have been 40 cases in the last week, an average of 5.7 each day.
The latest figures come after a fully-vaccinated international traveller returned a positive test on Monday without the S gene dropout, a feature of the Omicron variant.
The traveller arrived from the Netherlands via Abu Dhabi on Friday and opted to enter hotel quarantine, meaning they have not been in the community while infectious.
All other passengers on board the international flight are being followed up to ensure they have been tested, in line with current requirements for overseas arrivals.
Victoria is yet to record a case of the fast-spreading variant, with infections found in NSW, the ACT and Northern Territory.
Meanwhile, the Victorian government has announced it will pour $21 million to establish a mRNA research program as part of its push to use the technology to manufacture vaccines on an industrial scale for future pandemics.
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