By Luke Voogt
Geelong has no active COVID-19 cases, as of midnight on Wednesday, with a total of 65, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
State-wide the department recorded eight new coronavirus cases, bringing the Victorian total to 1678. Of those 1584 have recovered.
Six of the cases were returned travellers, one was discovered through community testing and another was connected to an infected household contact, according to the department.
More than 536,000 COVID-19 tests have been conducted state-wide while 19 Victorians have died after contracting coronavirus.
The figures came as Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos urged people to avoid protests in Melbourne on Saturday amid fears of a second wave of the disease.
“Having a very large number of people congregating together puts those individuals at risk and puts other members of the community at risk,” she told a press conference yesterday.
About 40,000 people had registered interest in attending the Stop Black Deaths in Custody rally, hosted by Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance.
The rally, protesting both the death of Indigenous Australians and African Americans in police custody, comes amid several days of protest and looting in the US following the death of George Floyd in police custody.
Ms Mikakos urged people not to protest saying there would be more “appropriate time” to do so.
“I understand the anguish, the pain, the suffering of people right across our nation having seen this tragic case occur in the United States,” she said.
Police do not plan to fine protesters on Saturday, which Premier Daniel Andrews described as a common sense approach for a “pretty volatile situation”.
