People illegally visiting homes unknowingly spread coronavirus, cluster of 34 infections among five households in Casey

A COVID cluster threatens to halt Melbourne’s lockdown being eased. Authorities have now revealed the “disappointing” reason behind the outbreak.

Blatant breaches of Melbourne’s 5km-radius rule have led to a cluster of 34 coronavirus infections in the southeastern suburbs.

Department of Health and Human Services testing commander Jeroen Weimar said members of five households in Hallem, Clyde, Narre Warren South and Cranbourne North had travelled outside the mandated 5km radius, leading to the outbreak in Casey.

“One of the reasons why the current restrictions ask us not to have households communicating with each other or contacting each other or sharing each other over this current phase of our restrictions is because of the inherent risks around that kind of contact and around close contacts between different houses and this is what’s been playing out within Casey,” Mr Weimar told reporters on Friday afternoon.

The first of the 34 cases was identified on September 4, with health authorities undertaking “significant and painstaking” contact-tracing to control the outbreak.

“What we’ve seen is obviously some normal travel that we would expect people to conduct in order to get the necessary things for life – so the four reasons why people can leave home – and certainly we’ve seen travel to shopping centres and stores largely within the 5km radius,” Mr Weimar said.

“But we’ve also seen in this particular cluster visiting of houses beyond the 5km radius, so these five houses in this particular cluster have had, unfortunately, some members of those households visiting other households and it is that limited amount of contact, relatively infrequent contact between these five households that has now meant that we have 34 people in five houses experiencing or living with a very real threat of the coronavirus.

“What this highlights for us is that this is not about where you’re from. It is not about how old you are. It is not about what you do for a living. It is not about what gender you are. It fundamentally highlights the fact that this virus knows no boundaries.”

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has stern words for people who spread the virus beyond 5km in Casey. Picture: Sarah Matray/NCA NewsWire

Deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said the revelations were “disappointing” and confirmed a number of the people among the 34 infections were essential workers.

Premier Daniel Andrews said the cluster had the potential to blow out.

“I cannot rule out and none of us would rule out that there may not be additional cases beyond the 34,” he said.

“That‘s why it is so, so important if you have any symptoms at all in the local community, again, this is a message for every Victorian, if you have symptoms, even if they are really mark, come forward and get tested.

“That is how you keep it at 34 and not see the things spread out to 340. That is a real challenge here. The rules are there for a reason and if they are not followed, then, it makes the job that we are all doing that much harder.”

Tough roadblocks have been put in place at the city’s exits to prevent the spread of the virus into regional Victoria. Picture: David Crosling/NCA NewsWire

The cluster threatens to bring undone Melbourne’s solid work in bringing virus numbers down in the past fortnight.

Victoria recorded 45 new coronavirus cases and five deaths on Friday.

The average daily case number for metropolitan Melbourne has dropped to 42.7, meaning the city is on track to a scheduled easing of restrictions.

Metropolitan Melbourne must reach an average daily case rate of between 30 and 50 cases over the preceding fortnight to trigger an easing of lockdown measures from September 28.