Victoria records two local cases of COVID-19 linked to Holiday Inn cluster
A child and a woman from separate households are the latest COVID cases to emerge in Victoria, with both linked to the Holiday Inn.
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A child and a woman from separate households are the latest COVID cases to emerge in Victoria, with both linked to the Holiday Inn cluster.
Victoria recorded three new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, with two cases acquired locally and one in hotel quarantine who caught the virus overseas.
There are 21 active cases in Victoria.
The two new locally acquired cases were both linked to the Holiday Inn cluster, Health Minister Martin Foley said on Sunday.
They are a three-year-old child and a woman from separate houses.
But both attended a private family function in Coburg on February 6.
The private function, held at 426 Sydney Rd, had 38 guests and was attended by the COVID-positive woman from 7.14pm to 11.30pm.
The woman worked in hotel quarantine in CQV, the Victorian government agency running the program.
She tested positive on Wednesday, four days after the event.
COVID Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar said all 38 people who attended the event had been contacted and tested.
The mother of the three-year-old child, who works at Alfred Health, is a possible additional case, Mr Foley said.
He said she had been tested three times with different results, and may have been previously infected but since recovered.
“We will work out over the next few hours exactly where this individual stands,” he said.
Sixteen cases of COVID-19 have now been linked to the Holiday Inn cluster, which is believed to have started through a person in hotel quarantine using a nebuliser for medical reasons, which spread the virus through the hotel.
Mr Foley said both of the new local cases have been in isolation since Friday and each returned a positive test on Saturday.
Victoria’s new cases emerged following 21,475 tests, the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services said.
The state recorded one locally acquired case on Saturday.
FEARS OF INTERSTATE VIRUS SPREAD
The majority of customers at Brunetti Cafe at Melbourne Airport during the time an infected staff member was working have since travelled interstate, Mr Weimar said on Sunday.
The cafe at Terminal 4 was a possible exposure site from 4.45am to 1.15pm on February 9, when a staff member who since tested positive to COVID-19 was working.
Mr Weimar said all 12 of the infected person’s work colleagues had since tested negative.
There were 34 customers known to have visited the cafe during that period.
Of those, 19 were interstate visitors who have since left Victoria on flights.
“They are being supported by our interstate colleagues, and my thanks to the health teams in other states,” he said.
Fifteen customers at Brunetti remained in Victoria.
Thirteen have tested negative and two have results pending, Mr Weimar said.
TWO NEW LOCAL CASES ON SECOND DAY OF LOCKDOWN
It comes as Victoria enters its second day of a five-day hard lockdown described by Premier Daniel Andrews as a “circuit-breaker”.
Victorians are only be allowed to leave their homes for the following reasons: essential supplies, care and caregiving and exercise and essential work.
Exercise and shopping is limited to five kilometres from Victorians’ homes.
Exercise is allowed for two hours a day with household members, your partner, or one other person who is not from your household.
Masks must be worn everywhere except in your own homes and no visitors are allowed in homes with the exception of intimate partners.
Public gatherings are not permitted.
Mr Andrews said that if you can work from home, then you must.
Schools will close but will remain available over three days — Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday — for vulnerable children.
Child care and early childhood centres remain open.
Places of worship are closed. Religious gatherings and ceremonies are not permitted. Funerals can involve no more than 10 people for both indoor or outdoor settings. Weddings are not permitted unless on compassionate grounds.
There will be no crowds at the Australian Open.
There were no new local cases for NSW on Sunday. Two were recorded in hotel quarantine, NSW health officials said.
PUBLIC TESTING CAPACITY BOOSTED
Testing capacity at Victoria’s public labs has more than tripled, with the state now able to process about 30,000 tests a day.
Health Minister Martin Foley announced extra resources on Sunday to boost testing to better manage COVID-19 outbreaks and find cases more quickly.
Most tests are turned around in less than 24 hours.
Last October, the state’s eight public pathology labs could test about 4000 per day with more than 80 per cent of tests turned around in less than 24 hours.
But testing capacity - both public and private - means the state’s testing capacity is now about 30,000 tests per day.
Testing sites and real-time queue times can be viewed here.
Originally published as Victoria records two local cases of COVID-19 linked to Holiday Inn cluster
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