Medical professionals perform Covid-19 testing in Melbourne. Nine public housing estates are in mandatory lockdown and two additional suburbs are under stay-at-home orders. Photo / Getty Images
Medical professionals perform Covid-19 testing in Melbourne. Nine public housing estates are in mandatory lockdown and two additional suburbs are under stay-at-home orders. Photo / Getty Images
Victoria has recorded 127 new cases of Covid-19 overnight, marking a record spike for the state.
Here's a quick breakdown:
• 34 of those cases are related to known and contained breakouts;
Australia has recorded a total 8387 cases of Covid-19, with 3230 in New South Wales, 2663 in Victoria, 1067 in Queensland, 443 in South Australia, 618 in Western Australia, 228 in Tasmania, 108 in the Australian Capital Territory and 30 in the Northern Territory.
Australia's coronavirus death toll now sits at 105 after a man died in Victoria.
'This could not be more serious': Premier's warning
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has warned that a release from lockdown restrictions will be "further away" if people don't follow the rules.
"That will be further away still if people say, 'Well, I want this to be over so I'm going to pretend that it is.' It isn't. There's a long way to run in this.
"This is serious, this is real, and no Victorian has any excuse but to take this seriously. Otherwise, we will finish up in a situation where all post codes are locked down. No one wants that and no one through their actions and the choices they make should make that more likely."
He went on: "I need each of you to do the right thing. Otherwise, everyone is going to be back in their home in a lockdown. That's what's going to happen.
Medical professionals perform Covid-19 testing in Melbourne. Nine public housing estates are in mandatory lockdown and two additional suburbs are under stay-at-home orders. Photo / Getty Images
"This could not be more serious. I'm not telling people what to do, I'm asking – work with me and my team and we will get this back under control and we will be able to resume our easing, our opening up. The alternative is people pretend it's over and it will be anything but over if some of this behaviour continues."
NSW Premier confirms border closure
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has also confirmed the NSW-Victoria border will close from midnight tomorrow night.
"Today and tomorrow is the last time in which any Victorians will be allowed across the border unless they have a special permit or some exemption," she said.
An elderly man has a Covid-19 test under the guidance of a member of the testing team during a Covid-19 testing blitz in Melbourne. Photo / Getty Images
"What is happening in Victoria is very different which is why we have had to take this necessary step," she added. "We wouldn't have taken this step, unless we absolutely had to and, in essence, it also takes pressure off Victorian resources, because our police and our health officials are able to do their jobs on this side of the border and allow the Victorian officials, whether it is their health officials or their police, to focus on getting our control of the virus."
Andrews said the border closure will be policed on the NSW side, "so as not to be a drain on resources that are very much focused on fighting the virus right now across our state".
"I am grateful to the Premier of New South Wales for her support in giving affect to that," he said at his press conference from Melbourne. "This is one of those precautionary measures, it is one of those things that I think will help us in broader terms contain the spread of the virus and what it means, for instance, is many staff who are currently being employed or deployed to take temperatures, to do all sorts of coordination work – whether it be at our airports or at train stations, for instance, will no longer have to do that work and can potentially be redeployed into arguably much more important roles.
