Victoria has recorded 45 new cases of coronavirus as authorities race to stem a cluster in Melbourne's south-east and motorists face traffic chaos at police checkpoints on Melbourne's "ring of steel".
It comes after 28 cases were recorded on Thursday and 42 cases on Wednesday and Tuesday.
Another five Victorians have died, taking the state's death toll to 750.
Melbourne's 14-day case average, which is crucial to easing lockdown restrictions from September 28, has fallen to 42.7.
Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett said Melbourne’s 14-day average was likely to be "comfortably" within the required 30-50 range by September 28.
"It would be nice if we could break through the bottom of that range and be in the high 20s by then. That’s actually possible," she said.
But authorities are concerned about a coronavirus cluster that has emerged in the Casey council area in Melbourne's outer south-east.
The cluster involves a number of different families in the Hallam and Narre Warren areas with links to the local Afghan community and includes several mystery cases without a known source of infection.
The Department of Health and Human Services held a community meeting on Wednesday night and three new pop-up testing clinics have been set up in Clyde, Hallam and Noble Park.
Traffic chaos at Little River checkpoint
Meanwhile, traffic was banked up for kilometres at the Little River police checkpoint on Melbourne's south-west border on Friday morning.
Motorists were stuck for hours waiting for a police check on the Princes Freeway before Geelong, with images showing the gridlock stretched as far back as Werribee.
Traffic at the Little River police checkpoint on the way to Geelong. Credit:Nine News
A caller to radio station 3AW also told regional Victorians to avoid the Hume Freeway, which was reportedly banked up from the Kalkallo police checkpoint, about 30 kilometres north of Melbourne, all the way back to the Craigieburn bypass.
Traffic chaos at the Little River checkpoint on Friday morning.Credit:Nine News
Police beefed-up the so-called "ring of steel" around Melbourne this week after lockdown restrictions were eased in regional Victoria. Melburnians trying to escape the city face an almost $5000 fine at the roadblocks.
Police and Australian Defence Force personnel at the Little River checkpoint on Thursday.Credit:Eddie Jim
At least four new locations have been identified as high-risk COVID exposure sites across Melbourne.
People infected with the virus spent time at Chemist Warehouse in Brunswick last Friday (September 11), Burwood One Shopping Centre on Sunday and Monday (September 13 and 14), Fountain Gate Shopping Centre in Narre Warren last Thursday (September 10) and Roxburgh Park's Coles and Freshplus last Monday and Thursday (September 6 and September 10).
The Health Department has been contacted to clarify which Chemist Warehouse outlet in Brunswick the warning relates to.
Anti-lockdown protesters who are planning another demonstration this weekend will be met by riot police.
Seventy-four people were arrested last weekend in confronting scenes in which police clashed with protesters at the Queen Victoria Market and more than 170 fines were issued.
Organisers, who have refused to reveal their names, released a statement on Thursday calling on Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton to change coronavirus directions to allow them to protest without police intervention.
Rachael Dexter is a breaking news reporter at The Age.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMimwFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLXJlY29yZHMtNDUtbmV3LWNhc2VzLWFzLW1vdG9yaXN0cy1mYWNlLXRyYWZmaWMtY2hhb3MtYXQtcmluZy1vZi1zdGVlbC1jaGVja3BvaW50cy0yMDIwMDkxOC1wNTV3dTUuaHRtbNIBmwFodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLXJlY29yZHMtNDUtbmV3LWNhc2VzLWFzLW1vdG9yaXN0cy1mYWNlLXRyYWZmaWMtY2hhb3MtYXQtcmluZy1vZi1zdGVlbC1jaGVja3BvaW50cy0yMDIwMDkxOC1wNTV3dTUuaHRtbA?oc=5
2020-09-18 00:22:00Z
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