Victorians offered $300 hardship payment while waiting for Covid-19 test results, as infections rise by 403

Victorian workers who cannot afford to take time off while waiting for a Covid-19 test result will now be eligible for a $300 hardship payment, as the state announced a further 403 infections – its third worst day yet – and five deaths.

The premier, Daniel Andrews, said people going to work while symptomatic and awaiting a test result was one reason the state was struggling to contain the spread. He said the $300 payment for those who were unable to access sick leave meant people would no longer have an excuse not to isolate.

Applying for the payment would be simple, Andrews said.

“It essentially requires you to provide a payslip. If you’re in a position where you’re not able to do that, then [provide] a statutory declaration to that effect, which will be done as simply and as easily as possible.

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“What we’ve got at the moment is people who feel unwell but don’t want to go and get tested quick enough because they’re fearful of not being able to go to work,” Andrews said. “This $300 payment will go a long way to supporting those families, and having them make much better choices.

“If you’re sick, get tested quick and then isolate until you get a test result. If you are then a positive case, then you are eligible for a further $1,500 payment.”

On Thursday the acting federal industrial relations minister, Mathias Cormann, left the door ajar to paid pandemic leave but pointed to jobkeeper wage subsidies, jobseeker unemployment benefits and state support instead as a means to help sick workers.

“The government is continually monitoring the situation, noting that some states, including Victoria, already provide paid pandemic leave for workers who can’t attend their workplace because they are required to self-isolate,” he told Guardian Australia.

“I note the additional measures announced today by the Victorian premier, which are designed to ensure income supports are not a disincentive to remaining isolated pending the result of a Covid-19 test.”

The daily figures released on Thursday showed there were 201 Victorians in hospital, with 40 in intensive care, and 3,630 active cases across the state. The deaths overnight included a man in his 50s and a man in his 70s. A further three deaths were connected to aged care; a woman in her 70s, a man in his 80s and a man in his 90s.

“We send you our best wishes and support to each of those families – this will be a terribly challenging time for them,” Andrews said. Numbers were stabilising but were not declining, he said.

“The statistics tell you, the logic tells you, the maths of this is that’ll mean people will die.

“And that’s really what’s at stake here, and you know there’s been the odd commentator who thinks that it’s not right to be straight with people. I don’t think that’s alarmist language. It’s a fact.”

Andrews again implored Victorians to adhere to the virus restrictions, saying “no one is immune”, and reminded them it was now mandatory to wear a mask except in a few circumstances.

“There are a lot of young people who have died of this in other parts of the world,” he said. “There are a lot of otherwise healthy people who are not in the last moments of their life, they’re not in the last chapter … they are much younger, they are otherwise healthy, and they become ill.”

Andrews highlighted the death of the man in his 50s. “Even otherwise fit and healthy young people can get sick and can die from this virus,” he said. “What’s more, there is growing evidence on an international basis that many people are not getting over [Covid-19]. It is lingering, it has persistent, chronic condition-type symptoms, whether it be shortness of breath for a prolonged period of time.”

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The health minister, Jenny Mikakos, said four children were in hospital with the virus.

“In fact 20% of our patients are under 50,” she said. “So this is an issue that is striking many families across Victoria.”

In New South Wales, the health department said on Thursday that 19 new cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed in the 24 hours to 8pm Wednesday. The new cases included three people associated with the Crossroads Hotel cluster, nine associated with the Thai Rock restaurant cluster and three still under investigation.

The NSW president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the next two weeks would be “absolutely critical for NSW in its battle to keep Covid at bay”.

“We are on a knife-edge,” she said. “NSW Health is doing absolutely everything it can to trace new transmissions and contain clusters, but ultimately it will be up to NSW residents if we are going to curtail spread of the virus.

“Everyone is feeling the fatigue from this pandemic, but we’ve got to keep our guard up.”