Victoria on Wednesday reported 24 deaths from coronavirus in the last 24 hours and 149 new cases.
The state a day earlier recorded eight deaths from the virus and detected 148 cases.
Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, has become the epicentre of a renewed outbreak of infections but cases have slowed in recent days, helped by a six-week lockdown put in place to slow the spread of the virus.
Australia surpassed 25,000 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, tipped over the milestone by the recent outbreak in Victoria and prompting a warning from authorities about declining test numbers.
The daily numbers were well down from a peak during Australia’s second wave of more than 700 in a single day earlier this month, but officials expressed concern about a drop-off in the number of people presenting themselves for COVID-19 tests.
“We are seeing some decrease in the amount of testing ... please, if you have symptoms, do go and get tested,” national Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer Alison McMillan said during a televised media conference in Canberra.
The new cases took Australia’s tally since the pandemic began to 25,067 cases, including 525 deaths.
Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews is attempting to push legislation through state parliament to extend Victoria’s state of emergency declaration by another year, giving him the ability to extend or reimpose restrictions over that period.
NEW ZEALAND TESTING BLITZ
In neighbouring New Zealand, officials announced a testing blitz as they reported seven new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours. Health Minister Chris Hopkins said 70,000 tests were planned over the next week.
“We haven’t quite got this cluster completely identified yet, we do need people to take that test when asked,” Hopkins said in Wellington, referring to a group of cases in the city of Auckland that earlier this month ended the country’s months-long run with no locally transmitted cases.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Monday extended a lockdown in Auckland until the end of the week and introduced mandatory mask wearing on public transport across the nation.
Reporting by Renju Jose and Colin Packham