Victoria aged care sector angry at ‘bizarre’ decision to allow unvaccinated visitors in homes

The Andrews government has defended the absence of a Covid vaccine mandate, saying the rule balances risks with the harm of social isolation

• Follow our Covid live blog for the latest updates
• Vic: Hotspots; restrictions; vaccination rates by postcode
• Vaccine rollout tracker; cases and data tracker
• Get our free news app;get our morning email briefing

The Victorian government has doubled-down on its refusal to mandate vaccinations for visitors to aged care facilities, an approach that breaks with other states and has angered the sector, which described it as bizarre".

It comes as Victoria eases Covid restrictions further on Friday, a day after it recorded 1,923 new locally acquired cases and 25 deaths - the state's highest single-day death toll of the current outbreak.

Sign up to receive an email with the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning