Victoria has recorded another 403 new cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus, and five more people have died of the virus in the Australian state.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews. Photo: AFP
Premier Daniel Andrews said three of those deaths were connected to aged care homes.
Andrews spoke directly to "young people", who he said makes up a large portion of the new cases.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said some 20 percent of hospitalisations in Victoria were under 50 years old.
He stressed that young, healthy people could get sick, have long-lasting health effects and even die from Covid-19.
"There are a lot of young people who have died of this in other parts of the world... this is not just something that affects people that are frail-aged. It would be wrong to assume young people are somehow immune."
Andrews said that if numbers continued to grow (or even stay stable), more people would die.
"No family will be untouched by this if it gets away from us," he said.
Andrews said he could not be sure what things were going to look like in a couple of weeks.
"I can't give you a direct answer as to how things look in three-and-a-half to four weeks' time. Unless we all play our part … and [the possibilities] run from everything from inconvenience to absolute tragedy ... then the lockdown will be longer than it otherwise would be."
Meanwhile, there have been 19 new cases confirmed in New South Wales.
Three came from hotel quarantine.
- ABC
