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Victoria has recorded another jump in new local cases of COVID-19 with 26 infections detected today.

The Department of Health said all 26 cases were linked to current outbreaks, with 24 people in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.

The two cases in the community include a woman who travelled to Melbourne from East Gippsland and stopped at a regional petrol station to get fuel on the route back.

The case is linked to Trinity Grammar School in Kew.

LIVE UPDATES: Lockdowns costing states $300 million a day

https://twitter.com/VicGovDH/status/1417982042361405441

Health Minister Martin Foley said the woman did an "outstanding job" to minimise the transmission risk.

Acting Chief Health Officer Professor Ben Cowie echoed the health minister's praise, revealing the woman even disinfected the credit card she used to pay for petrol.

"We have seen today, that when a case was notified, they immediately travelled back home from regional Victoria into isolation, as required," he said.

"And they only made that one stop for petrol, had limited contact with staff, and even disinfected the credit card that they were using before handing it over.

"These other types of COVID safe behaviours that limit the spread of the virus and keep all of us safe, our families and friends and the entire community."

Victoria's COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar reiterated the woman displayed "exemplary COVID-safe behaviours".

She was masked and sanitised her hands before entering the servo and tried to keep her distance.

"They were in there for literally moments, the bare minimum of engagement they needed to have," he said.

"Driving back from East Gippsland into the city – that's a challenging drive to make, you need to get fuel. I'd absolutely commend that person.

"She's done a fantastic job."

The other case in the community was linked to the Wallabies game at AAMI Park, who attended the Prahran Market last Saturday, turning it into a Tier One exposure site between 9.40am and 11.15am.

"We use this opportunity to reach out to the over 900 people who checked into those venues under the QR code system," Mr Foley said.

Anyone who attended the Prahran Market during the times of concern on Saturday must get tested and quarantine for 14 days.

Mr Weimar said the case did not break isolation requirements by going to the market as they were initially classed as a Tier Two contact.

"They returned a negative test on the 16th. They were then free from their Tier Two isolation," he explained.

"Then we redefined our Tier One definition on the back of the evidence we'd seen at AAMI Park over subsequent days.

"They were entitled to be out in the community on Saturday. They got the message from us, immediately isolated and tested positive."

READ MORE: Popular Melbourne market among 380 exposure alerts

More than 43,600 tests were conducted yesterday.

There are more than 19,000 primary close contacts isolating in the state.

The current Victorian cluster is now at 133 cases to date.

Mr Foley warned the 19,000 people isolating could turn positive in the coming days.

"There is every chance that many of those 19,000 people who are monitoring as primary close contacts can turn positive," he said.

There have now been 14 cases associated with the Geelong versus Carlton AFL game at the MCG on July 10, thought to have been transmitted while crowds queued outside a stadium gate.

"We've seen this CCTV footage of the mingling, we know it is another case of transmission, in the queues getting into Gate 7. We talked a few days ago about a case coming through Gate 6," Mr Weimar said.

"So again we are seeing the transmission of the unstructured crowds outside of major events."

Victoria's case number breakdown

Victoria's 26 new cases include:

– Seven cases linked to Trinity Grammar, including two staff, one student and four households contacts

– Six cases linked to Miss Frankie's, including one staff member, three patrons who visited on July 13, one patron who visited on July 15 and one household contact

– Two cases linked to Phillip Island, a member of the group of friends and a household contact

– Five cases linked to St Patrick's Primary School in Murrumbeena, including four students and a household contact

– One case linked to the MCG, a household contact

– Two household contacts of the index case in Mildura

– Two household contacts from the City of Hume cluster

– One case linked to AAMI Park

Highest infection numbers in almost a year

Today marks the highest daily total since August last year and overtakes yesterday's case number jump of 22 infections.

Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton yesterday warned if Victoria had not locked down when it did, case numbers would have blown out of control due to the highly infectious Delta variant.

"Can you imagine what the situation we could be in if we hadn't locked down, when we locked down – if those 22 individuals were all out in the community, not just for a day, but for their entirety infectious period?" Professor Sutton said.

"If you do not lockdown that is what happens."

The Victorian Government this week declared it needed another week to get its coronavirus outbreaks under control before the state could exit lockdown.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the state could not risk case numbers spiralling out of control like they had in Sydney.

"We need to avoid what is going on in Sydney at the moment," Mr Andrews said.

Victoria's extended lockdown is due to end at 11.59pm on Tuesday, July 27.

Terrified subway passengers in central China have been left clinging to ceiling handles inside flooded cars on Tuesday, trapped up to their necks in rising water, as record-breaking rains devastated parts of Henan province.

At least 12 people have been confirmed dead in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital, where more than 20 centimeters of rain fell in one hour on Tuesday, according to China's meteorological observatory.

All of the bodies recovered were taken from the city's subway system, provincial authorities said.

READ MORE: Heavy floods inundate central China, trapping people

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from Zhengzhou, a city of 12.6 million on the banks of the Yellow River, with thousands of emergency personnel deployed to assist in the effort, state media reported.

And in the nearby city of Gongyi, at least four people were reported to have died, as flood waters swept through residential areas, forcing more than 20,000 people to leave their homes.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the flooding on Wednesday, describing the situation as "very severe" and ordering authorities to "prioritise the safety of people's lives and property," state news agency Xinhua reported.

Though flooding during the summer months is an annual occurrence in parts of China, recent record-breaking rains have alarmed scientists and officials, raising questions as to whether the country is prepared to deal with more extreme and unpredictable weather amplified by climate change.

'I can't speak anymore, please help'

Footage broadcast by Xinhua and shared widely online showed passengers in Zhengzhou trapped inside a flooded subway car, packed tightly together as the water rises. Outside the window, dark floodwater rips past, surging down the subway tracks.

Many of those trapped posted calls for help on social media, according to screenshots circulated online and statements from the Henan fire department.

READ MORE: Death toll from Europe floods tops 150 as water recedes

"The water inside the carriage has reached chest-levels! I already can't speak anymore, please help," wrote one woman, who went by the name Xiaopei.

Minutes later, she posted another comment: "If no rescue comes in 20 minutes, several hundred of us will lose our lives in Zhengzhou subway."

The fire department later confirmed Xiaopei had been rescued.

The city's subway system, which contains seven lines and 153 stations, suspended all operations after the incident, provincial authorities said.

Other videos showed residents on the street, water up to their hips, working desperately to pull out people trapped in an underground mall using ropes. Others showed people making a human chain, to prevent being swept away by the current as they struggled through rushing water.

The heavy rains also caused power outages across the city. One hospital, housing nearly 10,000 patients, faced a complete blackout on Tuesday, with social media photos showing its first floor submerged in water.

On Weibo, China's heavily censored version of Twitter, a user said the power outage had cut off ventilators in intensive care units at the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. She said her father had to rely on medical workers to manually pump oxygen into his lungs, and pleaded with authorities to restore electricity at the facility.

The People's Daily later confirmed the blackout at the hospital, where it said over 600 critically ill patients needed to be transferred. By Wednesday morning, power had been restored at the ICU unit, the newspaper said.

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According to state broadcaster CGTN, more than 6,000 firefighters, and nearly 2,000 members of the police and Chinese military, had been deployed across disaster hit areas. Footage from the ground showed soldiers and emergency teams rescuing residents on rafts and clearing toppled power lines.

A report released last week by Greenpeace warned that major metropolitan regions around Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou-Shenzhen were under threat from extreme heat and rainfall. Beijing has seen the fastest rise in average temperature of 0.32C every 10 years.

Guanzhou-Shenzhen has experienced 98 heat waves since 1961, most in the past two decades.

The report also said if global greenhouse emissions peak around 2040, some parts of China like Shanghai would experience a more than 25 per cent increase in extreme rainfall — while other areas, like north-western Guangzhou-Shenzhen, would see more drought.

Dams threatened

Though the rains have since eased, problems are likely to persist, as dozens of dams and reservoirs have breached warning levels.

There were conflicting reports about the status of the Guojiazui dam near Zhengzhou, with CGTN initially announcing that it had collapsed at 1:30am on Wednesday, before later appearing to walk back its reporting. A statement from the Ministry of Emergency Management also said the dam had broken, according to a screenshot cited by the state-run China Daily. However, that line has since been removed.

Xinhua reported on Wednesday afternoon that "a large section of the downstream slope of the dam has crumbled, but the dam itself has not collapsed."

In the city of Luoyang west of Zhengzhou, Chinese military personnel raced to blast a dam and divert the floods on Tuesday night at the request of county authorities.

Heavy rains had caused a 20-metre breach in the dam, which authorities said "may collapse at any time," according to a statement from the Central Theatre Command of the People's Liberation Army.

Pokémon fans, brace yourselves: McDonald's is releasing a new Pokémon card series.

After a massive launch in the US, McDonald's has confirmed online they're releasing Pokémon cards here in Australia as their latest Happy Meal toy.

The cards were initially released in the United States back in March to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Pokémon cards.

READ MORE: Holy grail of Pokémon cards go up for sale

But it's not just the fans bracing for the launch.

Some McDonald's stores in the US were forced to issue purchasing limits on Happy Meals, with the fast-food giants releasing a statement and calling for calm.

"Some fans even going to extreme lengths to get them (Pokémon cards), we're working quickly to address shortages and also strongly encouraging restaurants to set a reasonable limit on Happy Meals sold per customer," McDonald's said in a statement.

Scalpers overseas had been quick to list McDonald's Pokémon cards for sale online, live eBay listings currently having full sets for over $300.

Concerns were also raised over the amount of food waste caused by the cards coming in meals.

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Aussie customers can no doubt expect strict rules to apply here when the cards are released.

And while the release date for the cards is not yet known, we should be seeing them sooner than later; they're next in line following the current Space Jam toys.

Four cards are expected to come in a Happy Meal and will also include stickers or similar, there's eight different types of packs on offer.

In the US there were 50 different cards to collect, including some with holographic pictures.

Pokémon cards in general have made a comeback in recent years.

Some of the original cards, like the ultra-rare Charizard, have sold for nearly half a million Aussie dollars.

READ MORE: Man fined for driving 300km for a Big Mac

One video uploaded to YouTube back in February has gathered 650,000 views, with YouTuber Leonhart simply showing off the McDonald's Pokémon cards to viewers.

9News has reached out to McDonald's for further information.

A woman is recovering in hospital tonight after the balcony of her home in Wollongong gave way as she stood on it.

The structure on a street at the Berkeley home collapsed at around 7am, with neighbours alerting emergency services.

Paramedics arrived to find the woman, aged in her 70s, covered in debris and suffering a fractured pelvis and lower leg injuries.

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"On arrival we were faced with a number of challenges as the balcony had completely collapsed, and we needed to safely extricate the female patient from the debris," Inspector Norm Rees from NSW Ambulance said.

READ MORE: Record cases in NSW with 124 new infections

Paramedics including an ambulance helicopter attended the accident and the woman was airlifted to St George Hospital in a serious condition.

"NSW Fire and Rescue crews did an excellent job, providing the best possible environment for paramedics to safely treat our patient."

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