Victoria records 21 new Covid cases, the Royal Women’s Hospital listed as exposure site

The Royal Women’s Hospital in Parkville has been listed as an exposure site, while residents of a Carlton public housing estate have been told to isolate.

Alex Barlow, 18, gets vaccinated by Raymond Rodondo at the Exhibition Centre. Picture: Rob Leeson.

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Victoria has recorded 21 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours.

The Royal Women’s Hospital was on Saturday listed as a Tier 2 exposure site after a Covid-positive case visited the main entrance at the corner of Flemington Road and Grattan St, Parkville on August 6 between 7.25am to 8am and 10am to 10.35am.

Anyone who was there at those times must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.

Meanwhile, residents of a Carlton public housing estate were told on Saturday to get tested and isolate despite the complex not being listed on the health department’s website.

Resident Cory Memery said he received a text from the department alerting him Covid fragments had been detected in wastewater at the 480 Lygon Street complex.

It’s understood a pop-up testing clinic was being set up nearby to test residents who must isolate until a negative result is received.

Goodstart Early Learning Center in Richmond was deemed a Tier 2 exposure for August 9 from 7.30am to 8.10am.

Woolworths Opalia Plaza in Melton South was another Tier 2 site added on Saturday. That applies for people who visited between August 8 between 6.30pm to 6.45pm.

Some contacts will be considered Tier 1 who will be contacted by the health department directly.

An aquatics centre and an Asian food store in Melbourne’s north were listed as Tier 1 sites.

Anyone who visited SK Asian Spices in Glenroy on August 12 between 5.50pm to 7pm and Broadmeadows Aquatic and Leisure Centre on August 5 between 5.45pm to 7.15pm must get tested and isolate for 14 days.

All of the 21 new cases on Saturday were linked to existing outbreaks and 11 were in isolation throughout their infectious period.

No new cases were acquired overseas.

In total, 33,675 tests were carried out and 29,490 Covid jabs administered.

Health Minister Martin Foley urged Victorians get tested as the state recorded another double digit number of cases.

“We really need to get that 33,000 number back up to track down that chain in transmission.

“If you have symptoms you may well be caring the virus and infecting others.”

Three people are in hospital while one person is in ICU.

Fifteen of the 21 cases are linked to the Glenroy outbreak which Mr Foley said authorities held “growing concerns” about.

Ten cases are form across three households linked to the Glenroy West Primary School.

Two students and one staff member at Glenroy West Primary are also among those 15.

Of the 21 new cases on Saturday, 15 were linked to the Glenroy outbreak. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Sarah Matray

One household contact of an existing student case and one student case from a school in Laverton who rode a bus supervised by one of the previously reported Glenroy cases.

Three cases are linked to the Al Taqwa College, two cases are linked to the Hobson Bay outbreak and one is a household contact from Caroline Springs outbreak.

Mr Foley also urged regional Victorians to stay on alert for symptoms as coronavirus fragments were found in wastewater across the state.

“There have been new regional detections in the Shepparton regions, with the catchment

includes the suburbs of Shepparton, Kialla and small parts of both Shepparton North and Orvale,” he said.

Extra testing is now being established in parts of the Goulburn Valley, the Goulburn Valley health acute respiratory clinic in Graham Street, Shepparton over the course of this weekend. Wastewater detections were also found in Lakes Entrance on Friday.

Mr Foley said the areas where the virus has been detected in wastewater should be on high alert but restrictions will not be tightened in those areas at this stage.

Wastewater detection, Mr Foley said, was an “early warning system,” and the fact there was no coronavirus cases or exposure sites in those areas means tougher measures are not required.

Mr Foley said the communities “have been extraordinary in their work over the last 18 months.”

BABY TESTS POSITIVE IN QLD

One of the latest cases in Queensland is a one-year-old child.

Queensland’s deputy chief health officer Dr James Smith said the one-year-old was a sibling of a child already infected and was in hospital with the virus in a stable condition.

The child was the youngest person in the Indooroopilly cluster to have contracted the virus.

Read the full version of this story, here.

466 CASES AS NSW RECORDS ITS WORST VIRUS DAY

NSW has recorded 466 locally-acquired cases of Covid-19 overnight and four more deaths, Premier Gladys Berejiklian has confirmed.

“We are in an extremely concerning situation. At least 60 of the infections were in the community but that is likely to go up given the number of cases are under investigation,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“We had four deaths overnight and we extend our deepest condolences to each and every one of the family and loved ones.”

The four deaths included a woman in her 40s in palliative care, a man in his 70s who was vaccinated but did have pre-existing conditions, man in his 80s died who was not vaccinated, and a woman in her 70s.

There are currently 378 COVID-19 cases admitted to hospital, with 64 people in intensive care, 29 of whom require ventilation.

Read the full version of this story, here.

RICHMOND APARTMENT BLOCK AN EXPOSURE SITE

A Richmond apartment block is an exposure site after an infected person spent 11 days at the complex.

Anyone who visited the Tier 2 block at 32 Bosisto St between August 2 to 13 must get tested and isolate until a negative result is received.

It’s understood some contacts will be considered Tier 1, with the health department contacting them directly.

However, residents say they have “no idea” they are meant to be isolating.

There is no signage on the complex warning of exposure and no guards monitoring who comes in and out of the building.

One lady who lives in the building left on Saturday morning to take her dog for a walk.

She heard late last night the building was an exposure site but hadn’t received confirmation from the building manager or health authorities.

She said she would “probably get tested later today”.

The resident said the apartment had no QR codes near the entrance or on the different floors of the building.

Another two residents said they had “no idea” the building was an exposure site. They headed out for their morning coffee on Bridge Road.

YOUNG VICTORIANS LEADING VACCINE CHARGE

Young Victorians will lead a race to take up a million Covid vaccines in the next five weeks at state-run hubs after access to AstraZeneca was stepped up.

With GP clinics and pharmacies hoping to match the number of jabs delivered by the hubs, Victoria could be on track to have more than two million Covid vaccinations in the next five weeks.

After opening all of Victoria’s state-run vaccination centres to provide AstraZeneca shots to anyone aged 18 to 50, Premier Daniel Andrews set the ambitious target of more than 200,000 vaccinations doses each week between ­August 16 and September 19.

Mr Andrews also warned that Victorians would need to be vaccinated should they wish to “participate fully” in 2022.

“There will come a time where I think restrictions will apply to those who have not been vaccinated rather than restrictions applying to all of us,” he said.

“I can see a time when to get into a venue, to attend a major event, participate fully as a customer or a client, a ticket holder, a patron, a viewer, however you look at it, being vaccinated will mean you get in and not being vaccinated will mean you don’t.”

Speaking after Friday’s ­national cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Scott Morrison noted the work Victoria, Tasmania and NT were doing on vaccine passports, but said no decision had been made on whether to use them.

“We are continuing to work through that. No decisions on that yet. As you know, they will take place when we reach those 70 per cent marks and we are making great progress towards that. But that work will continue to be done, including the tools that will be necessary to support those arrangements by states and territories,” he said.

The PM said one in four eligible Australians were fully vaccinated compared with just 11.6 per cent a month ago.

On Thursday, more than 270,000 vaccinations were ­delivered across Australia, the “equivalent in per capita terms to the fourth best day they had in the UK ever”.

Backed by a new “Voices for Vaccines” advertising campaign and drive-through jab sites to open in Wyndham, Hume/Whittlesea and Casey/Cardinia, Mr Andrews said ambitious new targets were within arm’s reach if 5000 more Victorians a day rolled up their sleeves.

“Hundreds of thousands of Victorians have already rolled up a sleeve. We get stronger every single day,” he said.

“And young Victorians have done a big part of the lifting, in a short time, too. But we need to speed up even more.”

Niamh Hollick getting her first AstraZeneca injection. Picture: Rob Leeson.

Among those leading the vaccination race at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday were Alex Barlow, 19, and Niamh Hollick, 23, who had their first AstraZeneca shots at the earliest opportunity.

“I was super keen to get vaccinated and was waiting until I was eligible. On Monday, when they opened it up at state vaccination clinics for 18-39s I thought, ‘It’s time to jump on this and get the jab’,” Ms Hollick said.

“There is no other way out of this pandemic and I just ­really want to do my part not only for my own safety but for the safety of everyone I love and the community.”

Victoria’s new vaccine ­advertising campaign will run across print and digital platforms before expanding to TV.

There are currently 275,000 appointments available in the state-run vaccine system. While walk-up appointments are still available, people are urged to book a time.

Melbourne rave promoters are offering discounted tickets to the Smalltown Street Rave in Port Melbourne in October for fully vaccinated punters as a further incentive.

As leading arts, music and events figures push for vaccine passports to be introduced – and tested immediately — to save an industry on its knees, the rave’s promoter Novel said: “Covid-19 has decimated many industries, including tourism, hospitality, arts and the events industry. The only way we can ensure lockdowns are a thing of the past and open our borders is by getting vaccinated.

“Like you, Novel can’t wait to see the borders open so that we can welcome our favourite international artists back to Australia.”

It is offering a 15 per cent discount to its events for anyone who is fully vaccinated.