Coronavirus crisis: Victoria records 12,250 cases and 31 deaths

Victoria has recorded 12,250 new cases and 31 COVID deaths in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 953 patients in Victorian hospitals being treated with the virus. Of those in hospital, 114 people are being treated in intensive care, with 39 people on ventilators.

The State has reported 12,250 new Covid-19 infections, reported from 6244 PCR tests and 6006 rapid antigen tests.

Saturday’s figures bring the total number of active cases in the state to 79,836.

It is a major drop in the number of active cases reported on Friday, a decrease of more than 20,000 cases.

More than 37 per cent of Victorians aged over 18 have received a Covid-19 vaccine booster, with 22,139 doses administered at state hubs on Friday.

While experts believe Victoria is beginning to pass the peak of the Omicron wave, it’s expected cases will rise when students and teachers return to the classroom on Monday.

But authorities are hopeful it will not see numbers surge back to the mid-January peak.

A walk up vaccination blitz will occur at the weekend weekend, in an effort to get more young children aged 5-11 vaccinated before their first day at school.

As of Friday, about 38 per cent of the five-to-11-year-old cohort had a first dose of the vaccine.