400 new virus cases, 3 deaths in Australia virus hotspot

The Australian coronavirus hotspot of Melbourne has seen a drop in the number of new cases, but still recorded 397 positive tests with three more deaths on Saturday.

"The total number, cumulative total number of cases in Victoria is now 10,931, that's 397 more than were reported yesterday," Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said in his daily briefing.

"The breakdown of those cases is, 37 are linked to outbreaks and other complex cases and 360 that are under investigation by our public health team."

The previous two days had seen Victoria record 723 and 627 new cases.

The three deaths were a man and a woman in their 80s, and a woman in her 90s.

Andrews said that most concerning aspect of the numbers was that there were 49 "mystery cases".

"Forty-nine cases where we simply cannot track back what the index case is, what's the zero case, where did it start, where did those people get it from," he said.

"If there's that many that you don't know how they got it, you can't be certain that there isn't even further community transmission, even more mystery cases out there. That is, in some respects, our biggest challenge."

Although he didn't announce a further tightening of restrictions, Andrews did say that the government and its health experts were considering whether it would be appropriate to implement tougher measures in the future.

In New South Wales, an 83-year-old man died of COVID-19 - the state's first death since May. It brings the total number of deaths in the state to 52.