Four new Covid cases, Highpoint named as exposure site

Wait times at testing sites in Melbourne’s northwest have blown out to more than two hours as authorities scramble to clamp down on four unexpected coronavirus cases.

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Thousands of Highpoint shoppers have been ordered to isolate after four people in Melbourne’s northern suburbs tested positive to coronavirus and sparked a scramble to find a missing infection link.

The positive cases are close relatives who live across three households in the City of Whittlesea, about 15km north of the CBD.

They are two men — one aged in his 30s and one in his 70s — a woman in her 70s and a preschool-aged child. It had been 86 days since the most recent case of community transmission was recorded in the state.

Late on Monday night, the Department of Health revealed six new exposure sites, including Woolworths in Epping North.

Heavy queues at the Northern Hospital in Epping.

A number of testing sites have popped up in Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Picture: Wayne Taylor

It is the same Woolworths listed as an exposure site earlier this month after a Wollert man who contracted coronavirus in hotel quarantine in Adelaide shopped there on May 8.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said authorities had not yet determined whether both cases from the Epping North Woolworths were linked to one another.

Public health officials are working on the “hypothesis” that the new cases identified on Monday have been transmitted locally but were awaiting DNA testing to learn more.

“We are concerned, without a doubt … This is not a time to be complacent,” Health Minister Martin Foley said.

There are no known links to exposure sites from Melbourne’s previous Covid-19 scare, but genomic sequencing, which is due back on Tuesday, will help determine if the cases are linked to the Wollert man.

“Given the proximity, we don’t rule out the prospect that there is a link … We can’t rule out there’s a missing link,” Mr Foley said, but added the dates did not necessarily “add up”.

When asked whether there was another case out there, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton acknowledged it was possible.

It is believed the newly-positive man was infectious from May 18 and carried a high viral load that may have contributed to him spreading the disease to relatives.

“He’s likely to be quite infectious,” Prof Sutton said.

Police and PSOs enforcing mask-wearing on Monday. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Chief health officer Brett Sutton announces the new cases on Monday. Picture: AFP

The man, aged in his 30s, developed symptoms on May 20 and was tested on May 23 alongside a male relative, dubbed ‘case 2’, who was asymptomatic.

The Department of Health learnt of the positive test result on Monday morning and tested close contacts.

Two more people, case 3 (a woman) and case 4 (a young child), returned positive results.

Initial indications suggested none of the positive cases work in a high-risk sector, such as an abattoir or aged care.

One lives in the wastewater catchment areas that revealed traces of the virus on Friday evening. During their infectious period, at least one of the cases attended Highpoint Shopping Centre at Maribyrnong on Thursday, May 20, between 5pm and 8pm.

Anyone at Highpoint at this time must get tested immediately and stay isolated until further notice.

Woolworths in Epping North. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

A Covid-19 pop-up site at the Epping Soccer Stadium on Monday afternoon. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

The shopping centre will undergo deep cleaning but will remain open.

A day later, a positive case attended the Jump! Swim Schools in Bundoora between 8.55am and 10.15am.

Anyone at that site must get tested and immediately quarantine.

The centre will be closed until further notice. Anyone who attended Woolworths Epping North on May 22 between 4.45pm and 5.45pm must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from that date.

On Monday night, wait times at the Hampstead Road Covid-19 testing site blew out to more than 2½ hours.

WA has ordered anyone who visited an exposure site to get tested and quarantine for 14 days. Queensland has applied the same rules to those arriving from 1am Wednesday.