Victoria’s school students and teachers are in for a “rocky” few weeks with Covid statistics revealing a sharp rise in infections.
The state’s education Minister James Merlino conceded schools were bracing for a spike in cases, revealing numbers had risen in the first week of Term 1.
On Friday 964 students and 150 teachers tested positive, while over the weekend a further 607 students reported infections.
Mr Merlino said around 0.6 per cent of the school population was testing positive, and expected cases to grow in the next few weeks.
“We knew that the first few weeks of school would be a bit bumpy, we knew we’d get some positive cases, but it’s better to support those many hundreds of students and teachers than have one million students at home remote learning,” he said.
“We’re delivering 14 million rapid antigen tests to make sure we get to caxjmtzywses early because that will drive down numbers overall.”
Victoria recorded 8275 new cases and seven Covid deaths on Monday, as infections continue to decline.
There are now 638 infected people in Victorian hospitals, with 72 in intensive care and 26 on ventilators.
Victoria’s pre-Omicron peak for Covid hospitalisations was 851 in October when the state was battling a surge in Delta infections.
More than 93 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated and the state has 59,801 active cases.
A total of 16,338 PCR tests were taken on Wednesday and 13,486 vaccines were administered at state hubs.
It comes after the state government revealed it will spend $1.4 billion on more ambulance officers, respiratory clinics and personal protective equipment.
It will also extend the “surge allowance” paid to frontline doctors, nurses and paramedics.
It comes as Victorian elective in private settings resumed on Monday, but the state currently has no plans to expand that to public settings until the pressure eases on the system.
The state has seen a steady decline in Covid infections in recent weeks, with authorities now believing the state has passed its Omicron peak.
But Mr Merlino said there was still intense pressure on the hospital system and authorities had no further announcements to make on elective surgery.
“As soon as we can ramp it up even further, we will,” he said on Monday.
“We’re waiting on capacity within our health system. We heard really clearly from nurses last week – this has been a workforce under extreme stress for more than two years.
“We will get to further elective surgeries when we are able.”
