The Covid-19 outbreak in Victoria is showing no signs of slowing down as more community cases are revealed.
The state's health department has announced another three previously unreported community cases overnight.
Health authorities yesterday reported six cases in Victoria.
Victoria is in lockdown until 11.59pm on Thursday, June 3. But health authorities may be forced to extend the self-isolation period.
The state's community cluster has now grown to 54 cases, and there are now more than 320 sites that have been exposed to the outbreak across the state.
It's not yet known if any of the three new cases are at resthomes, where two workers and a visitor were infected in the last two days.
Critical days
Victoria's Acting Premier, James Merlino, says the outbreak "may well get worse before it gets better".
"In the past 24 hours we identified many more points of concern," he told reporters at a press conference from Melbourne.
"In addition to the very worrying cases in private aged care, we are very concerned about the number of other high-risk exposure sites.
"We are seeing a small number of cases infecting a large number of contacts.
"There is no doubt, the situation is incredibly serious.
"The next few days remain critical."
New Zealand cases
The Ministry of Health is searching for five people who have returned to Aotearoa from Melbourne within the past two weeks.
The Australian state of Victoria plunged into a seven-day lockdown at 11.59pm on Thursday, May 27, after health authorities identified more than 10,000 people connected to positive coronavirus cases.
New Zealand's Ministry of Health says it has contacted all but five of the 4,539 people who flew from Melbourne Airport in Victoria back to New Zealand between May 20-25.
The remaining five people have been referred to the ministry's people-finding services.