Another week has passed under stage 4 restrictions. Melbourne has had its highest death count due to the corona virus, which is to be expected as the follow on from previous infection counts. The new cases count has started to see a decline, however the numbers are still high and there is still a large amount of community infection. The new case numbers from 10th August 2020 to 16th August 2020 are; 298, 294, 395, 217, 371, 283 and 279. The death in the same period are; 18, 19, 21, 8, 14, 4 and 16.

Meanwhile over the ditch in New Zealand, on 11th August, after 102 days with no new infections, a family of 4 in Auckland had been diagnosed with COVID-19. These cases were not from hotel quarantine or close contact with a returned traveller. As the source was unknown, Auckland was placed under stage 3 restrictions for 3 days from 12th August, whilst the rest of New Zealand returned to stage 2 restrictions. These restrictions have been extended for 12 further days to 11:59pm on the 26th of August to give health authorities the best chance to get on top of any community transmission.

NSW has also been keeping its new case numbers low and the authorities have been working hard at keeping on top of contact tracing. The continued low numbers in NSW is encouraging for that state and the rest of Australia.

The weather this week has been typical Melbourne providing a bit of everything. Winter is giving us one last blast and there are signs that spring will be with us shortly.