11.55am
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More details on the new business support program announced this morning:
The state government is rolling out a mentoring program through its $26 million Small Business Mental Health and Wellbeing scheme.
The scheme was revealed last week but the government has today announced it will partner with the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry too.
"That's all about helping businesses to navigate the very significant challenges that this virus poses," Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters this morning.
"That will match small business owners and sole traders with experienced professionals who can provide that mentoring support," he said.
Here's how a previously announced business package is panning out:
About 25,000 people have so far enrolled in the Upskill My Business program, which is spearheaded by Deakin University and RMIT.
Mr Andrews has today described enrollments in the statewide program as "a very significant uptake".
There are about 130 courses available, covering how to adapt to the crisis and stay strong on the other side of the pandemic.
11.25am
Victoria's chief health officer Brett Sutton says there are many good signs that Victoria is now on the "down slope" for new infections during the second wave.
He says that Victoria has done relatively well to keep numbers down compared to other parts of the world that have experienced a second wave.
"There are countries that are being challenged by waves that are as big, if not bigger, than the first waves that they experienced," Professor Sutton said.
"That applies to Spain, Israel's the same, France is going through a really significant uptick at the moment ... to be on the down slope of our epidemic curve in Victoria is a really good sign and it does speak to the fact that we are doing very well, in relative terms with a very challenging situation."
The second wave has seen multiple "complex" outbreaks triggered in workplaces, aged care homes and disability housing which has made it difficult to get on top of numbers quickly.
Asked whether the numbers are falling quick enough, Professor Sutton said they would never fall quickly enough for his liking.
"We all want them to be below 100, below 50, below 10 as soon as we can possibly can, but it is within expectations and it is trending as we have kind of modeled," he said.
There were only four new outbreaks recorded in the last 24 hours, Professor Sutton said.
"That is one of the smallest numbers that we have seen in many, many weeks," he said.
Earlier
THE Victorian government is rolling out new business packages to help deal with the economic fallout of coronavirus.
They include a business mentoring program in conjunction with Victoria's chamber of commerce, premier Daniel Andrews has announced this morning.
The government has rolled out about $1.3 billion dollars in various support packages to more than 75,000 small businesses and sole traders so far.
About 25,000 people have taken up small business courses to help their operations adapt and survive both during the crisis and into the future.
More news:
The premier has again urged people to get tested after a recent fall.
"We got to keep testing numbers up," Mr Andrews said.
Declining test numbers are not a problem at this stage, he said, but would help track any emerging issues in weeks and months to come.
Victoria has again seen less new cases, with 216 recorded this morning after the daily highs of more than 700 seen in recent weeks.
Bendigo recorded three new cases yesterday, but the amount of people sick with COVID-19 is now trending downward in the local government area.
Also in the last 24 hours, the Australian government revealed it has signed a virus vaccinedeal with UK-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
More to come.
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