Victoria records 705 new Covid cases, 23 per cent aged in their 20s

Almost a quarter of Victorians who tested positive for coronavirus in the past day are aged in their 20s, Premier Daniel Andrews has revealed.

Victoria recorded 705 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases on Monday as Melbourne’s sixth lockdown continues to have little impact on slowing surging infections.

One new death was also announced by the health department on Monday, a man in his 70s from Darebin.

It takes the death toll of the outbreak to 25, with the number of Victorians who have lost their lives to Covid-19 now 845.

Mr Andrews said 81 per cent of those 705 infections were aged under 50 years of age, while 23 per cent were aged in their 20s.

“We see this day in and day out, this has in every way become a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” the Premier said.

“Those who are unvaccinated are in the main in the younger age groups … because they have only become eligible more recently.”

Mr Andrews said it showed every reason to go and get vaccinated.

Overall, 83 per cent of all active cases in Victoria are people younger than 50 years of age, while almost a quarter of cases are people in their 20s.

The virus continues to spread rapidly through Melbourne’s northern and western suburbs with 80 per cent of new cases originating from those areas.

But Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said it was a “welcome relief” that cases had started to fall in some suburbs of concern.

Daily coronavirus cases reached a pandemic high of 842 on Saturday but have fallen over the past two days.

“The reductions we have seen in our case numbers over the last few days, and it is far too early to pull a trend out of that, but all coming in Hume so this is a welcome relief,” Mr Weimar said.

“The key suburbs of concern for us are Craigieburn, Roxburgh Park, Meadow Heights and Epping where we continue to see significant numbers every day.”

He said 30 per cent of Monday’s cases were from Hume.

It comes as Victoria missed its second vaccination target after the state failed to reach the 80 per cent first dose milestone on Sunday.

It’s meant that a number of extra freedoms for Melburnians has been delayed by at least two days until Tuesday.

From Tuesday under a “modest easing” of restrictions Victorians in lockdown will be able to play golf or tennis again, and go fishing and boating, along with other contactless outdoor recreation activities.

People in metropolitan Melbourne and regional areas in lockdown can also gather outdoors in groups of up to five adults from two households, if all adults are fully vaccinated.

The travel limit will also be expanded to 15km for exercising and shopping.

No new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine on Monday. More than 26,000 primary close contacts remain in isolation in Victoria.

There are now 8538 active cases in the state.

jack.paynter@news.com.au