Al-Taqwa College teacher tests positive to coronavirus after state’s first recent doughnut day dashed
A second school in Melbourne’s west has closed due after a staff member at Al-Taqwa College tested positive to Covid.
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The Department of Health has confirmed a teacher at Al-Taqwa College has tested positive to the virus.
The acquisition source of this case is currently under investigation and household contacts of the case are being urgently tested.
The case is isolating and being interviewed by contact tracers.
In a statement, the Department confirmed urgent public health actions were underway.
“The Department will support the school community in partnership with Western Public Health Unit. Transmission risks at the school are being assessed,” it read.
“In the meantime, the school will close, and all students and staff will be instructed via direct communications to get tested and isolate until further notice.”
Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said health authorities were working on the basis that the female teacher may have been infectious in the community last week.
“We always take a deliberately cautious approach, but it serves us well,” Mr Weimar told ABC Radio.
The positive case lives with her husband in the Hobsons Bay local government area.
Mr Weimar said contact tracers would immediately test anyone who may have come into direct contact with the teacher.
“We would hopefully have some of their results by Thursday morning when we do our normal update,” he said.
Al-Taqwa College, an Islamic school that was the location of one of Melbourne’s largest outbreaks last year.
A large faith-based school in Truganina, it was linked to 185 cases and closed for nearly two months.
A statement from the school said the college “assures our families, staff and the Victorian community that we have done everything required by the Victorian government to implement Covid-19 protocols and precautions, as we have throughout this pandemic”.
“The health department, the college and Jeroen Weimar’s team are working co-operatively together,” he said.
Dr Hanna El-Khoury, a Newport GP close to the school community, told the Herald Sun there was great frustration. “But this is no different to anywhere else, it could happen anywhere,” he said. “The issue is how did it happen? Hopefully it will be an isolated case and there will not be any greater consequence.” he said.
“We all understand everything better now - this virus is very bad and needs no excuse.”
“Everyone is very responsible, everyone is feeling it,” he said.
The school has more than 300 staff and 2095 students. It receives around $30 million a year in government funding and charges under $3000 a year in fees on average. The school posted a $1.6 million loss in 2020, including $262,000 it lost after giving parents a 5 per cent discount on fees last year.
SECOND SCHOOL CLOSES OVER COVID FEARS
A second school in Melbourne’s west has closed due to Covid fears.
Ilim College in Dallas announced on Wednesday night it would close all campuses on Thursday, as they await further advice from the health department.
In a post on Facebook the college emphasised that it does not have any positive Covid cases from the current outbreak, but was shutting its doors as a precautionary measure.
The prep to year 12 Islamic school said it would provide further updates to staff and students on Thursday morning.
The school community was urged in the post to check the exposure sites list and get tested accordingly.
The Department of Health has been contacted for comment.
NEW EXPOSURE SITE LISTED
It comes as a Coles in Yarraville has been listed as a tier two exposure site after the new infection was made public.
Anyone who visited the supermarket on Williamstown Road and High Street between 4:30pm – 5:30pm on July 29 must get tested and isolate until receiving a negative result.
It is the first exposure site to be added to the Department of Health’s website since Saturday.
The new infection comes hours after Victoria’s consecutive run of Covid cases appeared to end on Wednesday, with the state recording no new local cases in the previous 24 hours.
In an astonishing sign the Delta outbreak has been squashed, it was the first day of no new locally acquired cases since the most recent outbreak began in mid-July.
TESTING SITE BREACH PROBED FOR LINK TO MYSTERY CASE
Contact tracers are preparing to ramp up investigations into an earlier mystery case from a Moonee Valley Covid testing site.
Covid commander Jeroen Weimar said the Department of Health was actively probing whether a breach may have occurred at the site.
It comes as Mr Weimar urged Victorians to avoid complacency about the virus.
“Only a week ago we found that new case in the community, the traffic controller that was completely unexpected — it was not on the trajectory eight days ago but now suddenly you’re dealing with a brand new case,” he said.
“You can do a fantastic job of getting an outbreak driven down, only to have it wiped away a few weeks later when you see another incursion.”
Just 3000 of more than 20,000 primary close contacts from the outbreak remain in isolation as hundreds are released back into the community each day.
No new exposure sites have been added since Saturday.
More than 30,000 Victorians turned out to get a test on Tuesday, and 17,612 vaccine doses were administered.
Nine Victorians are in hospital with Covid-19. Two of those are in ICU with both on a ventilator.
Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said he was “delighted” to record no new local cases.
Chief health officer Brett Sutton celebrated the milestone by tweeting an image of Aussie Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus’s coach Dean Boxall’s viral celebration after she won gold.
Victoria has recorded 220 cases linked to the two outbreaks that jumped the border from Sydney’s deadly Delta cluster – one from a team of Sydney removalists who transited through the state and the other from a family who returned to Melbourne’s north from a NSW red zone.
https://t.co/SNLvEydECBpic.twitter.com/1KOeP5M8vI
— Chief Health Officer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) August 3, 2021
No new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine, with the number for active infections in the state falling to 99 – down from 124 on Tuesday.
It comes as Day 13 tests are set to begin at the LaCrosse apartment complex in Docklands.
Mr Weimar said a large portion of existing close contacts would be released from their 14-day quarantine period in the coming days.
195 primary close contacts are associated with the Woolworths Devon Plaza in Doncaster which was visited by a positive case last week but 89 per cent of those have returned a negative test.
261 people have been deemed primary close contacts of the Moonee Valley testing site in Moonee Ponds but 91 per cent have so far returned a negative test.
“In terms of the overall outbreak, we all obviously still have more work to do, these outbreaks are not over until we’ve got everybody cleared, until all remaining leads have been closed down, all exposure sites released,” Mr Weimar said.
NEW INSIGHT INTO VICTORIAN JABS
An additional 60,000 Pfizer bookings will be made available at state run vaccination clinics in the coming months.
People can now book their spot but there is no change to eligibility yet.
Deputy Secretary of Covid-19 Vaccinations Naomi Bromley urged Victorians to roll up their sleeves.
“Get vaccinated, get protected, and help us get back to normal,” Ms Bromley said.
When asked about Victorians turning up to vaccination sites in a bid to secure leftover Pfizer jabs that hadn’t been used, Mr Weimar said wastage wasn’t occurring.
“Our clinics are running at a really rigorous and robust and professional system,” he said.
“The wastage amount we’re seeing is low.”
Ms Bromley said the state was looking forward to even more supply becoming available in September, October and November.
“Supply continues to be the limiting factor – not hesitancy or even complacency,” she said.
Ms Bromley said the state government would continue to align their vaccine rollout with the Commonwealth’s rollout.
“Our horizons are the Commonwealth’s horizons,” she said.
AstraZeneca could be made available for people under 60 at state-run mass vaccination centres in coming weeks.
Ms Bromley said the matter was under active consideration, adding more would be said soon.
INTERSTATE VIRUS OUTBREAKS WORSEN
New South Wales recorded 233 virus cases in the past 24 hours and a man in his 20s died “suddenly” from the virus.
NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said the man, who was being cared for by the local health district, died in his home in southwest Sydney.
“He was being cared for by the southwestern Sydney local health district during his isolation period and he had reached the day 13,” she said.
“He was being followed up daily by nursing staff and suddenly deteriorated.”
His death is being referred to the coroner, Dr Chant said.
A woman in her 80s has also died.
The new figures come after NSW Health issued a mammoth list of new exposure sites which were littered across 79 suburbs.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said more than 105,000 people were tested in the latest reporting period.
It comes as the state’s health authorities issued the biggest ever list of Covid-exposed venues, including a Woolworths visited by a positive case over 11 days.
Queensland has recorded 16 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases as the southeast’s Delta cluster continues to wreak havoc.
Confirmation of a positive case in Cairns, in the state’s far north, has authorities on edge.
While the fully vaccinated reef pilot tested positive for the Delta variant, authorities said the case was not linked to the Brisbane outbreak.
There are 63 cases in the outbreak, the biggest cluster Queensland has seen.
Meanwhile, just as South Australia had begun to shake the shackles of lockdown, another locally acquired Covid-19 case has been recorded.
The person was already isolating in the state’s dedicated Covid-positive facility, Tom’s Court Hotel.
Premier Steven Marshall confirmed the newest infection was linked to the Modbury cluster, bringing the total number of connected infections to 22.
The cluster was thought to have stopped growing at 21 cases, with the last recorded on July 29.
NYE CELEBRATIONS IN LIMBO
Melbourne’s New Year’s Eve fireworks display is under threat from pandemic restrictions for the second year in a row.
With mass outdoor gatherings unlikely to be permitted in the city for several months, events like the fireworks and related entertainment on the night are in limbo.
City of Melbourne ditched the $3.4m New Year’s Eve celebration in 2020, opting instead for a more low-key ticketed event involving central city eateries and bars.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp said it was too early to say what the festival would look like this year and whether it would have fireworks, “given the pace of change and disruption we’re experiencing at the moment”.
“We’re in active discussions with the Victorian government about what may be possible to safely deliver this year’s event, but we will ultimately be guided by the health advice,” she said.
“We hope we will be able to deliver a bigger celebration – because more people in the city means keeping people in jobs and our restaurants, bars and cafes full.”
Pyrotechnics firm Howard and Sons is on call to stage fireworks for New Year’s Eve if it goes ahead, but director Andrew Howard said it was a difficult time.
“We are preparing to go ahead with all events that are safe to proceed, but we’ve got events all around the country cancelling, and we have events trying to proceed,” he said.
Mr Howard said the company was changing the way it presented shows during the pandemic.
“We design fireworks displays where people can actually stay at home and watch,” he said.
“The idea is to be innovative in how you enable people to do what they can do safely, but not give them nothing.”
The AFL Grand Final Parade will not proceed in its usual way this year and the Melbourne Cup Parade faces a similar fate.
Council-run events such as Melbourne Fashion Week, Melbourne Music Week and the Christmas Festival are being planned with COVIDSafe rules and flexibility in mind, particularly given restrictions and health advice can change quickly.
Ms Capp said the more people who got vaccinated, “the bigger and better our events will be”.
“The size of any future events relies on every single one of us doing what we can,” she said.
HITTING VACCINE TARGET WON’T END RULES
Covid-19 containment measures will be needed to prevent 2000 deaths a year even once 80 per cent of the adult population is vaccinated, according to Australia’s plan to live with the virus.
The Doherty Institute’s modelling, used by the national cabinet to set its vaccination target to reopen the country, confirms snap lockdowns will be the best way to stop the Delta variant until 70 per cent of Australians over 16 have received both vaccinations.
Once that target is reached, crowd caps at major events and density limits in offices and hospitality venues will still be required – costing the economy $140m a week – and rapid testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine will need to be maintained.
Read the full story here.
SUPERMARKET, STADIUM VAX HUBS
Stadium carparks, supermarkets and shopping centres could be turned into vaccination sites within months as the jab rollout chief revealed how he plans to reach the summer vaccination target.
Lieutenant General John Frewen’s vaccine campaign plan indicates the critical marks to reopen the country will “potentially” be met in the final two months of the year.
Read the full story here.
NEW YORK’S DRASTIC NEW RULE
Gyms, bars, restaurants, theatres and sporting venues.
Anyone who wants to visit these venues indoors in New York City will need to provide proof of Covid vaccination starting this month, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday.
People who haven’t had the shot will be denied entry.
“It’s time for people to see vaccination as necessary to living a good and full and healthy life,” Mr de Blasio said during his daily press briefing.
Meanwhile, beer joints, doughnuts and cars are just a few of the vaccine incentives being offered around the world.
Read the full story and follow Covid news from around the world here.
SUTTON REJECTS RAPID TESTING CALL
Chief health officer Brett Sutton has slapped down fresh calls to introduce rapid antigen coronavirus tests more widely.
Responding to renewed pleas from the state Opposition to adopt the alternative testing, Professor Sutton said the standard PCR test remained the “genuine gold standard”.
“A rapid antigen test is reasonably good … but it’s not a perfect test by any means. You really want a supremely accurate test if you have a true positive case out there,” he said.
“We want a test that will tell us that we are negative all of the time.
“When you are doing tens of thousands of tests per day, you don’t want dozens of false positive cases that you need to chase up as if they are real cases, put others in quarantine and declare them primary close contacts when that is not a correct result.”
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien on Tuesday joined party colleagues for a rapid test, which he says have an accuracy of 95 to 99 per cent.
Mr O’Brien, who returned a negative result in just 15 minutes, said his party wanted to see the tests used for events and to visit people in hospital and aged care.
Premier Daniel Andrews said he would not be taking advice from the “people on the front steps of parliament”.
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