Victoria’s lockdown set to be extended

Despite extensive contact-tracing efforts, Victoria’s sixth lockdown is set to be extended past Thursday as authorities puzzle over the source of transmission for two new clusters.

Victoria’s sixth lockdown is set to be extended past Thursday after the state recorded its worst day of cases in almost a year.

The Sunday Herald Sun was told by senior government sources on Saturday night that hopes of coming out of lockdown later this week are fading fast.

It is believed fears are mounting within the government that contact tracers will be unable to identify and connect all cases in the community in time for the lockdown to end as planned.

The state government is expected to announce details about an expanded vaccination program – including for younger people and key workers such as teachers – in the coming days.

Victoria recorded 29 community cases on Saturday – the highest daily case number since last September. Picture: Rob Leeson.

Leading epidemiologists on Saturday said they expected the Victorian lockdown to be extended after the state recorded 29 cases – the highest daily case number since last September.

Premier Daniel Andrews has warned that more infections were likely to be discovered in the community.

“This is a very concerning day,” the Premier said. “This is very, very significant to see this many cases. Our system will be overrun if we don’t bring this under control.”

All new cases were linked to previously reported cases, but none were in isolation during their infectious period.

The public housing tower at 130 Racecourse Road in Flemington was listed as an exposure site. Picture: Rob Leeson.

Health authorities are yet to establish the exact source of transmission for both the City of Maribyrnong and Hobson Bay clusters, or whether they are genomically linked to Victoria’s previous outbreak.

It comes as the NSW crisis deepened, with the state recording 319 cases, its highest daily total on record.

Authorities are probing whether yet another incursion from coronavirus ravaged Sydney sparked Victoria’s sixth lockdown, with a couple believed to have travelled to Melbourne after completing a stint in hotel quarantine in NSW.

Lockdown 6 was due to end on Thursday.

However it is likely to be extended.

The pair, who are family members of the man at the centre of the City of Maribyrnong cluster, left Sydney quarantine on July 15 before flying into Melbourne on flight QF45 that day.

Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said the quarantine link was only “one of a number of possible leads”.

Concerns have also grown after the virus seeped into a Flemington public housing tower, with eight members of a single-family household positive.

The family, linked to the Hobson’s Bay cluster, caught the virus due to one of them being a student at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina.

One teacher and 13 other students at the school tested positive on Saturday.

Mr Andrews on Saturday said it was far too early to say whether lockdown would end as planned on Thursday.

“It’s too early for us to say. There are cases out there that we don’t know about,” he said.

Deakin University’s chair in epidemiology Catherine Bennett said she’d be “very surprised” if the state extinguished the virus threat by Thursday, when lockdown is scheduled to end.

“There’s a lot of work to be done to ascertain what’s actually out there,” Professor Bennett said. “I know they’re going flat out at this, but I just think we’d be very lucky to come out on time.

“Where they’re looking, they are finding cases, and I expect that there’s more to come.”

University of South Australia’s chair of biostatistics Adrian Esterman said the coming days would paint a picture of the seriousness of the ­situation.

“I would say that seven days was unlikely to be enough. If these numbers keep going up, that will be absolutely disastrous,” he said.

Melbourne University’s head of school of population and global health Nancy Baxter said while lockdown would likely be extended, so, too, would the road out.

“We will probably need to come out of lockdown slower than last time,” Professor Baxter said.