Australia's Victoria state reports a record 484 virus cases

Australia's hard-hit state of Victoria reported a record 484 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday and health authorities warned that numbers could continue to rise. With Australia's second-largest city Melbourne w in lockdown for two weeks, authorities h hoped infection rate would begin to plateau. 

"Certainly we're at a really, really challenging phase of this pandemic," Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.

Wednesday's new cases surpassed a previous record of 428 set on Friday.

"We can't necessarily expect numbers to go down. I think that will be an even greater challenge in days ahe. That means that we're going to look at 500-600 cases per day. I absolutely don't want us to go re," Sutton ded.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said people h to self-isolate when y became sick. He said nine out of 10 people did t self-isolate between having symptoms and being tested. More than half did t self-isolate between when y were tested and when y got results. Andrews also anunced two more deaths, both men in ir 90s, bringing national death toll to 128. Masks will become compulsory from Thursday for residents in lockdown regions when y leave ir homes. Six prisons in Victoria were placed into lockdown on Tuesday after a staff member tested positive at one of crowded facilities.