There are 1,054 COVID-19 cases in hospital in Victoria - with 80 active cases in ICU, including 30 on a ventilator, and 35 cleared cases in ICU.
This is the first time more than 1,000 people have been hospitalised in Victoria since the start of the pandemic.
5,267,489 vaccine doses have been administered by Victoria's state-commissioned services, with 23,938 administered yesterday at state-run centres.
94.7 per cent of Victorians aged 12 and over have now had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 93.2 per cent have had two doses. This excludes the most recent Commonwealth data.
22.4 per cent of Victorians aged 18 and over have had three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Victoria was notified of 25,526 new cases of COVID-19 yesterday. This includes:
- 12,857 who tested positive on a Rapid Antigen Test and who reported the result to the Department
- 12,669 who returned a positive result on a PCR test
Of those who reported a positive result on a Rapid Antigen Test yesterday:
- Approximately 60 per cent were from tests undertaken yesterday, 14 January.
- Approximately 18 per cent were from tests undertaken 13 January.
- With the remainder from tests undertaken over the previous five days.
Sadly, the Department was notified yesterday of 23 deaths of people aged in their 30s, 50s, 70s, 80s and 90s. This brings the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began to 1,681. This total number includes a duplicate reported death that was discovered as reports were verified this morning. This duplicate reported death will be reclassified and reflected in tomorrow's total figures.
Of today's 23 deaths, 17 are recorded as occurring in the past week with the majority of cases from the last two days. Six are historic cases that occurred in late 2021. Deaths are reported to the Department by different sources including VICNISS, the Victorian Death Index, and Local Public Health Units.
There are 227,105 active cases in Victoria.
59,952 PCR tests were processed yesterday. The total number of PCR tests performed in Victoria since the pandemic began is 18,323,879.
Updates
New exemptions to isolation requirements for critical workers
From 11.59pm on Tuesday 18 January, a range of critical workers in emergency services, education, critical utilities, custodial facilities, transport and freight, will join workers in the food production sector as being eligible for exemption from quarantine as close contacts of people diagnosed with COVID-19.
