Australia reports dip in new virus cases, deaths

That's an important part of our fight against this virus," Andrews said. On the current Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne Metropolitan and Mitchell Shire, Andrews said, "If you look at the trend over the last seven days or so, these stage four restrictions, as challenging, as heartbreaking [and] as painful as they are, they are working." The two new virus cases reported in Western Australia were a woman in her 50s and a man in his 30s -- both had returned to the country after overseas travel.

Australia reported a dip in new COVID-19 cases and virus-related deaths on Thursday with nine fatalities and 292 new infections detected in the last 24 hours. Now, the national COVID-19 death toll stands at 361. The total number of cases has climbed to 22,358, including 12,774 cases of recovery.

Of the deaths reported in the last 24 hours, eight were from Victoria, while one was from New South Wales. Similarly, most of the new virus cases were reported from Victoria at 278, followed by New South Wales with 12 cases and Western Australia with 2 cases.

Victoria, which is the Oceanic country's worst virus-hit state, is in Stage 3 lockdown, except state capital Melbourne and Mitchell Shire municipality which are in Stage 4 lockdown. Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said the 278 new cases in Victoria were the fewest reported in the state in the last two weeks and that it indicated the strict restrictions put in place were working in controlling the disease spread.

"We now believe, cautiously, that we have early signs of the flattening of the curve in Victoria. Equally, New South Wales has seen very positive developments," Hunt said, in a video press conference from Canberra. On the latest fatalities, Hunt said, "We know the Australian numbers come with an agonising detail, and that detail is that nine more lives have been lost. Nine families will be grieving." Authorities have conducted 61,000 coronavirus tests in the last 24 hours. So far, 5.1 million tests have been conducted in the country.

In his daily COVID-19 briefing, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said the state government was now looking at a "concerning" rise in new cases in the regional cities of Geelong, Ballart and Bendigo. Local government areas in Victoria have 492 active cases. Melbourne city has 7,155 active cases.

Andrews said it was difficult to account for the mystery cases in the three regional cities, where the point of virus transmission could not be ascertained. "If you've got even the mildest of symptoms, please come forward and get tested. That's an important part of our fight against this virus," Andrews said.

On the current Stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne Metropolitan and Mitchell Shire, Andrews said, "If you look at the trend over the last seven days or so, these stage four restrictions, as challenging, as heartbreaking [and] as painful as they are, they are working." The two new virus cases reported in Western Australia were a woman in her 50s and a man in his 30s -- both had returned to the country after overseas travel. They are now in hotel quarantine. New South Wales reported its first virus-related death in 12 days after a woman in her 80s died in Sydney.

Of the 12 new cases in New South Wales, four were locally transmitted cases from known sources, while three were locally acquired but unknown sources. Five of the cases were travellers returning from overseas journey and are now in hotel quarantine.