Victorians should brace for daily COVID-19 case numbers of 1000 or more as the state struggles to contain the Delta outbreak, an infectious diseases expert has warned.
Professor Robert Booy of the University of Sydney told Today he fears Victorian cases are heading out of control.
"It is a worry and it is not in control ... I can see this going to 1000 just as New South Wales did peaking out at a largish number and falling again," he said.
LIVE UPDATES: Grim forecast for Victoria outbreak
Professor Booy said people failing to comply with public health orders was a major problem for Victorian authorities.
"The age-old problem is compliance. People playing by the rules," he said.
"If 99 per cent do (comply), there are still tens of thousands that don't."
Professor Booy suggested police and community leaders needed to further monitor residents' behaviour to stop breaches of health orders.
He also warned this week's violent anti-vaccine protests in Melbourne have the makings of a super-spreader event after a demonstrator tested COVID-19 positive.
The Department of Health confirmed that a person who attended the protests on Wednesday is being treated for the virus.
Professor Booy said conditions during the protests made further infections likely.
"Crowding, running, shouting, many without masks and most unvaccinated. They have the ventilation of being outside, but all the other ingredients of a spreading event," he said.
READ MORE: Melbourne protester in hospital with COVID-19
A department spokesperson said public health investigations were underway and has urged anyone who attended the protests and experienced a COVID-19 symptom should get tested immediately.
Police today are bracing for further protests over a push to scrap mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations for the construction industry.
Up to 1000 protesters took the streets of Melbourne's CBD on Wednesday after thousands gathered in the city to protest on Tuesday.
Victoria Police arrested 215 people on Wednesday and made a further 92 arrests yesterday, despite a far quieter and more relaxed day of demonstrations.
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