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Victoria makes masks compulsory for all as it records 13 more Covid-19 deaths and 723 new cases

<span>Photograph: Erik Anderson/AAP</span>
Photograph: Erik Anderson/AAP

All Victorians will be required to wear a mask from Sunday, with more restrictions reimposed in some regional areas as the state reported a record 723 new cases of coronavirus on Thursday and 13 deaths.

While noting people would be concerned about the highest number of daily confirmed cases since the pandemic began, the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, said the cases were a reflection of increased cases in aged care and people still going to work while waiting for test results.

“While that continues, we will continue to see numbers go up,” he said.

He said community transmission – where the government doesn’t know the source of the infection – would be “just a fraction” of the total number of cases.

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Thirteen people died in the past day, including three men and three women in their 70s, three men and two women in their 80s, and two men in their 90s.

It brought the total number of deaths in Victoria to 105.

There were 312 people in hospital, with 34 of those in intensive care. There were a total of 913 active cases in aged care.

In total there were 19,921 tests returned in the state, for a total of 1.5m tests.

Andrews said the numbers should not be unexpected when there were so many cases in private sector aged care and cases connected to big outbreaks in specific workplaces.

“It’s not unexpected that once you test those people for a reason, you want to find the virus, you want to find the number of people who have got it, and then you take appropriate steps with each of them – that will drive these numbers up,” he said.

“The community transmission, the kind of mystery cases, that’s still too high. But it’s certainly not at 700. It will be a very small number in that scheme of things.”

On the management of aged care facilities, Andrews said Eastern Health was now managing the Kirkbrae facility and it was stable, Monash Health was running Outlook Gardens and it was stable, and Austin Health was running Epping Gardens but it was a “very challenging environment”.

Two residents of Epping Gardens were emergency transferred to Royal Melbourne hospital on Wednesday night and they were in the process of being transferred to St Vincent’s Private on Thursday.

The health minister, Jenny Mikakos, said more aged care residents could be transferred to hospital as required.

“If there is a need for residents to be transferred to hospital, because they need clinical care, or if there are operators who are struggling to manage residents in a safe environment, then we will not hesitate to ensure that those residents get moved to a hospital environment,” she said.

The number of cases on Thursday was the largest increase since Monday, when 523 cases were confirmed. The Melbourne metropolitan area and Mitchell shire have now been in lockdown for more than three of the six weeks, and face masks have been mandatory for one week.

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There were around 255 cases in regional Victoria, and Andrews said 159 of those were from six local government areas around the Geelong corridor. In response, the Victorian government announced that from 11.59pm on Thursday, in the council areas of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast, Moorabool, Golden Plains, Colac and Queenscliff, there would be a restriction banning visitors to people’s homes akin to the rules in Melbourne.

The mask and face covering rule that has been applied to Melbourne and Mitchell shire will also be extended to the rest of the state from Sunday 11.59pm.

Pubs, cafes and restaurants in those six council areas will stay open, however, and Andrews noted that while it seemed counterintuitive to keep hospitality open, hospitality was regulated whereas people can let their guard down in their homes.

“The data drives that decision. That’s where the transmission is,” he said.

He said the mask mandate and the visitor ban were “high impact” but “low cost” in order to keep the numbers low in regional Victoria.

The record case numbers came after Victoria saw two days of lower numbers in the 200s and 300s.

Andrews said Australian Defence Force personnel who were on the ground checking on people who should be isolating have door-knocked 798 properties, and a number of people who were supposed to be isolating were not home, and they would be referred to Victoria police.

Andrews said in one instance, a person who was a positive case was not home and ADF officers were told by a family member they were at work.

The premier repeated people who feel sick should get tested, and should not go to work “regardless of your industry, your postcode, your background, and even your employment circumstances”.

“If you’ve got symptoms, the only thing you can do is get tested. You just can’t go to work. Because all you’ll be doing is spreading the virus.”

Andrews said for people in insecure work with no access to sick leave, $300 payments were available for people awaiting test results, and $1,500 payments were available if they test positive.

He revealed more than 1,000 people had accessed the $300 payment since it was announced last week.

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Andrews also indicated that those in contact tracing interviews who reveal they had disobeyed one of the rules were unlikely to be fined, because the information they provide is more valuable in contact tracing.

“What we want is accurate information. And I don’t think anybody has been fined by virtue of disclosure of that in the long-form interview. The real issue here is provide information, so that you get a text message telling you you are going to get a call, take the call, provide the interviewer with accurate answers.

“There is no sense of anybody being punished because of it … I have no advice it has happened.”

On whether restrictions would still be eased as planned on 19 August, Andrews said one day’s data was not a trend, and he could not say where the state will be in three weeks.

“We’ll make announcements at the appropriate time when we have as much data as we possibly can,” he said.

“I do not have announcements today about what is going to be happening in three weeks and I think when people think about that, even for a short time, they can, I think, appreciate that things are rapidly changing.”