Australia’s Covid-19 hotspot state, Victoria, should consider lifting a night curfew if the decision was not made on health advice, federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said, as total pandemic deaths in the state crossed 700.

Victorian authorities are trying to fend off criticism after its chief health officer told local radio he hadn’t recommended the night curfew in state capital Melbourne, although he was not against it from “a public health perspective.”

Hunt told Sky News he had been surprised at the news on the curfew. “If there is no medical basis for something, then obviously, that is then something entirely within the remit of the Victorian government to address and we’d encourage them to consider that in the coming days,” he said.