Covid-19 coronavirus: Victoria confirms 403 new cases, five deaths

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Photo / AP file

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says there have been five new deaths in Victoria linked to the coronavirus.

He confrimed the state has recorded 403 new cases overnight.

A man in his 50s, a woman in her 70s, a man in his 80s, a man in his 90s and another man in his 70s have died in the past 24 hours.

Health minister Jenny Mikakos offered her condolences to the families after the deaths were announced.

"This demonstrates the growing toll that this terrible virus is taking on our community," she said.

Of the 403 new cases, 69 are linked to known outbreaks and 334 are being investigated.

Mikakos says a fifth of people being treated in the state's hospitals for the coronavirus are under the age of 50.

"If you have any mild symptoms it is important that you get tested as quickly as possible," she said.

NSW has recorded 19 new cases overnight. 11 are linked to known COVID-19 clusters in Sydney, three are under investigation, one is a returned NSW resident from Victoria and three are returned travellers in hotel quarantine. https://t.co/vG7I5o0mpc @NatashaSquarey #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/7nkg61WLGM

— 7NEWS Australia (@7NewsAustralia) July 23, 2020

Andrews said there were 201 Victorians in hospital 40 of those are in intensive care.

A man in his 50s is one of the five people who died in the last 24-hour reporting period.

Mikakos says four children are in hospitals with the coronavirus across the state.

Andrews said no one is immune to the disease.

"There are a lot of young people who have died of this in other parts of the world," he said.

"There are a lot of otherwise healthy people who are not in the last moments of their life, they're not in the last chapter they lost, they are much younger, they are otherwise healthy, and they become ill."

Victoria has recorded five new COVID-19 deaths, including a man aged in his 50s, as the state tops 400 cases for the second straight day. @Brett_McLeod #9News pic.twitter.com/m3e5ZdbKiP

— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) July 23, 2020

Andrews has warned "stability is not enough" for the state to defeat its coronavirus crisis.

He said the state's current R number – which tells you how rating a disease's ability to spread – is hovering around 1.

He said it needs to drop below this before the state will see infections decreasing.

He says that a key factor in bringing this number down is ensuring that people are staying at home after they have been tested.

He calls on people to do the little things like wearing masks, washing hands and physically distancing.

"All those small and hard-won gains will see that replication rate dome down," he said. "We can't continue to see stable numbers, we have to drive those numbers down."