Victoria has recorded no new cases of COVID-19 on Christmas Day, after more than 11,000 tests were conducted on Christmas Eve.
It means the total number of active cases in the state remains at 10; nine overseas arrivals in hotel quarantine and one 15-year-old girl who caught the virus in NSW last week who remains isolated at home.
More than 2000 people are spending Christmas Day in hotel quarantine, including 48 people who have arrived in Melbourne from Greater Sydney or the NSW central coast since border controls were re-instated in the wake of a large outbreak in Sydney.
Victorians have been advised to refrain from hugging and kissing family and friends who have travelled from NSW this Christmas to minimise the risk of Sydney’s coronavirus cluster spreading to the southern state.
“If you’ve been to NSW in the last 10 days, or you’re spending time with people you know have come back from NSW … let’s not hug and kiss right this moment in time,” Victoria’s COVID-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said on Thursday.
Under current restrictions, Victorians are allowed up to 30 visitors at their homes today – not including young children.
Meanwhile, hundreds of Victoria Police officers will be spending Christmas Day away from their families while patrolling the Victoria-NSW border.
