Professor Sutton said there were now 415 active cases in Victoria, an increase of 45 on the previous day.
"There are now 332 total cumulative cases with an unknown source that indicate community transmission," he said.
Professor Sutton said the current level of transmission could result in more deaths.
"I'm afraid that that's absolutely a possibility when you've got significant transmission, when you've got 70-odd cases every day, there is absolutely an expectation that some of those people will die," he said.
"That's why it's incumbent on all of us to be minimising our interactions with others."
The news comes as 10 Melbourne suburbs were placed in lockdown on Thursday after a spate of cases in the city's north and west.
Professor Sutton said he hoped other postcodes would not face restrictions but that the numbers were worrying.
"I get some comfort from stabilisation in numbers, but it is never an easy place to sit when you've got 415 active cases, all of which are infectious.
"Obviously, we've identified them, they're in isolation, their close contacts are in quarantine, but it's an indication of a very large number of people who have acquired it, which means there are other infections still to be found out there and they're all at risk of transmitting to others if we're not doing the right thing.
"So the restrictions are in place, even though they apply to those restricted postcodes. We need to bear in mind that it's something for all of us to do, especially across Melbourne, but really the whole of Victoria."
Professor Sutton said he could not say whether other postcodes would be locked down but that situation would be assessed weekly.
"It's really a matter of how they're trending over time with those postcodes, if numbers stabilise in those postcodes, no, they won't tip over into being a restricted postcodes but we're watching each and every one of them very closely."
Professor Sutton said there were now 20 patients in hospital due to the virus, an increase of five since yesterday, including four in intensive care, up from two.
He said the number of tests has increased by 26,320 to 856,591 since Wednesday.
Today's numbers include a number related to schools raising questions again about whether they should be open when holidays are over.
Professor Sutton reiterated previous statements that there was not much evidence of transmission from children but flagged the closing of schools was under consideration particularly in hot zones.
"It will certainly be reviewed on a day-to-day bases. I will give as much notice as I can around the ...resumption of school in those restricted postcodes," he said.
"I want to see both that we're turning transmission around but also that we don't have such levels of community transmission with students becoming infected that our resourcing is all focused on response to cases in schools, because we do need to focus our activity on all of the transmission across the community."
More to come
Mathew Dunckley is digital editor at The Age. He was previously business editor for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Based in our Melbourne newsroom, Mathew has almost 20 years experience as a journalist and editor.
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2020-07-02 01:16:35Z
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