A man who allegedly hit a Melbourne COVID-19 testing site worker with a stolen car before fleeing has been charged, as more protesters test positive for the virus.
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The man aged in his 50s suffered non-life threatening injuries when he was struck by a white Holden station wagon while helping people queue at the Cohealth site in Collingwood on Tuesday morning.
A short time later, police found the car and arrested the alleged driver in Carlton.
The 32-year-old, of no fixed address, was charged by police on Wednesday with stealing a motor vehicle and a range of driving and drug-related offences.
He has been remanded to face court in mid-December.
Cohealth chief executive Nicole Bartholomeusz said the incident had sent "shockwaves" through the community and the clinic would be closed until Thursday.
The health department confirmed another COVID-19 testing site worker, in Pakenham, was subjected to "aggression" on Tuesday. They were uninjured but the incident will be reported to police.
A bus driver was also taken to hospital with serious injuries after being assaulted on Wednesday morning after asking a passenger who boarded at Kerang to wear a mask.
It comes as residents and businesses air grievances about the recurring "freedom" rallies in Melbourne's CBD against pandemic laws currently moving through parliament.
The City of Melbourne said it expected another planned protest on Saturday outside parliament house to draw a large crowd, sparking further disruption during the busy Christmas period.
"While we acknowledge people's right to protest peacefully, we have requested further support from the Victorian government and the police to reduce the impact on our city," the council said.
A further four COVID-19 cases have been linked to recent protests in cental Melbourne, taking the total to 23.
Meanwhile, Victoria's premier thanked a nurse who died of COVID-19 for her years of service to the state.
Gillian "Jill" Dempsey died while in intensive care at Box Hill Hospital on Sunday afternoon.
"She was double-vaxxed, she was wearing PPE, she was doing all the right things, but she's contracted the virus and as we've said so many times this can be deadly," Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters at parliament.
Ms Dempsey began working for Angliss Hospital in 2007 and was a "beloved" night shift nurse, her employer Eastern Health confirmed.
She is survived by her husband Michael and their three children.
Ms Dempsey's union, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, believes she contracted the virus at work and told the ABC she was the first hospital worker in the state to die from COVID-19.
Victoria on Wednesday recorded 1179 new locally acquired COVID-19 infections and six deaths of people aged in their 60s, 70s and 80s.
Of the deaths linked to Victoria's current outbreak, 80 per cent were not fully vaccinated.
VICTORIA'S COVID-19 DAILY NUMBERS:
* Death toll across the pandemic: 1336
* Active cases: 11,959, up 542
* Hospital patients: 299, down six
* Seven-day hospitalisation average: 296, down two
* Actively infectious ICU patients: 43, up two
* Cleared ICU patients: 48, down five
* Patients on a ventilator: 18, down one
* Tests processed: 74,252
* Vaccine doses at state hubs: 4045
* 12 and over full vaccination rate: 91 per cent.
Australian Associated Press
