One new case, plea to public as testing numbers drop

Victorians are not out of the woods yet as authorities revealed some mystery Covid-19 cases were still being probed.

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The sources of some mystery Covid-19 cases in Victoria are still being investigated, as the state recorded one new local case and authorities warned the threat was “not over yet”.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters on Sunday authorities were “working through” some of the mystery cases.

“Some of them have moderately established links — not absolutely definitive, but a pretty good sign that they’re linked,” he said.

“The genomics tells us even more — that they’re the Kappa variant for some of them.

“It’s really the very early case after the Wollert case and the index case for the Arcare (Maidstone) outbreaks that remain the real mystery, if you like.

A Melbourne restaurant prepares for business on Sunday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Luis Ascui

“Most others have lines of investigation (which) haven’t been tied in full, but (are) pretty clearly linked with all likelihood to existing cases.”

Prof Sutton rejected the suggestion the recent lockdown was “on the basis of just mystery cases”.

“Mystery cases are a concern. They do relate to the fact there are other cases out there that haven’t been identified and therefore can’t be chased down from a contact tracing point of view,” he said.

“Some of those mystery cases in recent days, as I say, we are in the process of working through those investigations and there are some early signs of likely links.

“We want to work through all that other information, double and triple checking the exact times and locations, CCTV and other electronic data that might assist in terms of the exact crossover periods.

“It is not over yet and certainly we want that high level of testing to be able to give that assurance about any other cases that might be out there.”

TESTING PLEA AS NUMBERS DIP

Health authorities are pleading for more Victorians to get swabbed for Covid after another day of low testing figures.

It comes as Victoria recorded one new case of Covid overnight — a primary close contact who was already quarantining during their infectious period.

The case is linked to the Arcare Maidstone outbreak, but does not involve an aged care resident.

Health Minister Martin Foley said Saturday’s spike in testing was positive after more than 17,000 results were received but urged more people to get tested.

“We still would like to see those numbers higher,” he said.

“Those numbers give our public health team the intelligence and information as to where this virus is circulating in our community.

“That sort of rapid information and rapid response is the most powerful weapon in the public health arsenal against this outbreak. To track down those last few leads is the most important thing we can do.

Health Minister Martin Foley is urging Victorians to get tested. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Sarah Matray

“I stress that if you’ve got the slightest of symptoms, please come forward to be more than 200 test sites right around the state that can give you a very quick turnaround in your test results.”

Covid-19 commander Jeroen Weimar said wait times at testing centres were short, around 10 to 15 minutes, with results available within 24 hours.

“People should feel absolutely confident they can get through quickly, easily, get a test almost anywhere across metro Melbourne or wider Victoria and get that result within 24 hours, almost certainly,” he said.

“There are a few areas affected by the storms in the far east — Belgrave and Lilydale — but Ferntree Gully, Boronia testing sites are still available.”

Prof Sutton urged Victorians not to assume their symptoms were a cough or cold.

“Please don’t assume it isn’t Covid-19. People have been surprised by their own positive

results because they had been identified as a primary close contact and didn’t regard themselves at risk … Nobody wants to have inadvertently put others at risk because they’ve had Covid and not had that diagnosis,” he said.

Melburnians returned to the city on Sunday after lockdown lifted. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Luis Ascui

“A huge encouragement to everyone with runny nose, sore throat, headache, fever, cough, to just go and get that test.”

Prof Sutton defended last week’s change to Melbourne’s mask rules, saying the city is in a critical phase to suppress the outbreak.

“We don’t want to inappropriately fatigue people, make them think that any particular element is really excessive,” he said.

“We are in a critical phase and needing to run this to the ground … the international experience through the whole last 16 months is that a lot of governments and public health officials have underestimated this virus or acted too late.

“We are situated in Australia where we have abated this so many times successfully that of course we feel confident and comfortable we can do it again.”

TESTING COMMANDER’S BIZARRE REQUEST

The state’s coronavirus ­commander has been slammed for telling Victorians they should “call out” people who have the sniffles – and tell them to get tested.

Mr Weimar, a former senior bureaucrat at the Department of Transport until July last year, made the remarks on Saturday after noting a trend of decreasing test numbers.

The call has sparked concerns from the Australian Medical Association that Victorians will now become “Covid police’’, telling people to get Covid tested, even if they have sniffles from allergies.

AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid said there were “certainly other reasons” for people to display Covid-like symptoms such as runny noses, headaches and allergies.

“We are reluctant to encourage people to be Covid police – and if everyone does the right thing there will be no need to intrude on other people’s privacy,” he said.

Yesterday Mr Weimar controversially said people should ask strangers if they have been tested if they were “walking around ­sniffling”.

Just over 15,000 people turned out to get a test on Friday and Mr Weimar suspected there were people in the community who may still be harbouring the virus.

COVID-19 Commander Jeroen Weimar has been slammed for his latest comments. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Sarah Matray

“We know that, this time of year, a lot of us are going to start getting colds and sore throats and sniffles,” he said.

“If your employees are coming to work symptomatically, send them home to get tested immediately. If you’re being served by people who are symptomatic, call them out in the nicest possible way … If you’ve got people at home who are walking around sniffling and saying, ‘I’ve just got a cold,’ ask them if they’ve had a test. That’s the collective response that we need to see.”

Small Business Australia’s Bill Lang said it was unfair to force an extra burden on hospitality businesses, hit hard by the brunt of the pandemic.

“On what legal basis does the commander have the right to say these things? It’s bad enough that he’s giving orders to Victorians which are not in any way related to legislation, but how does the government see this working? Enough is enough,” Mr Lang said.

Opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier slammed the language as alarmist.

“Jeroen Weimar has a habit of using inflammatory language, but urging Victorians to dob in one another will do nothing to instil public confidence in the Andrews government,” she said.

“It’s unreasonable to expect hospitality, or anyone else, to do the policing of this, especially when every second person will have a sniffle, because it is winter. This is un-Australian, nasty, and divisive and it’s the wrong approach.”

CURSED STATE OF THE ARTS

She plays the fearless and the forthright Ginny Potter, wife of the world’s most famous wizard, in the hit play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

But offstage, Melbourne actor Lucy Goleby says she feels “broken” and “invisible” after eased restrictions following the latest lockdown did not extend to arts and entertainment sectors.

“This lockdown is really hard, and it hurts more,’ Ms Goleby said. “People are saying, ‘We’re free and restrictions are eased, and we can move on.’ I’m thinking, ‘Hang on a minute. We’re not moving on at all. We’re still stuck. It feels like arts workers are invisible.”

Melbourne actor Lucy Goleby at home while she waits to return to work. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Arts, music and hospitality leaders last week penned an open letter to Victoria’s chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, pleading for a plan to reopen businesses.

The letter’s 200 signatories included touring giants Live Nation, Frontier, TEG Dainty, musical theatre producer Michael Cassel, hospitality kings Chris Lucas, Shane Delia, Shannon Bennett and Bruce Keebaugh, theatre owners Marriner Group, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Theatre Company, and the Australian Ballet.

Mr Cassel, the Australian producer of Harry Potter and Hamilton, said the affected industries are exasperated by “a lack of clarity over when we might be able to return to some sense of normal or the pre-lockdown restrictions.”

Lucy Goleby as Ginny Potter and Gareth Reeves as Harry Potter in the Australian production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. Picture: Matt Murphy

He added: “The shared frustration is, we’re not sure what the concern is. What’s not being communicated doesn’t seem to be about Covid-safe protocols because they are second to none, and all the stakeholders have been a part of it.

“At the same time we’re not being told: ‘Well, we need this week to pass, then we’ll return to 75 per cent or 100 per cent.’ There is no clarity.”

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which is playing at the Princess Theatre, closed for 11 months last year, and has been shut down twice in 2021 due to snap lockdowns.

The play employs 500 people, including cast, crew, and theatre workers.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child opened in Melbourne in February, 2019, and attracted more than 325,000 patrons in its first year, making it most successful play in Australian history.