Melbourne COVID-19 cases rise to four: What we know so far

The number of Covid-19 cases detected in Melbourne has now risen to four, as authorities carry out urgent contact tracing to find the source.

The number of coronavirus cases detected in Melbourne has risen to four, as authorities race to find out the source of the infection and warned there could be a “missing link”.

Two “likely” cases detected on Monday morning have now been confirmed as positive results.

A further two family members have since tested positive, it was revealed in the afternoon.

The four cases includes a male in his 30s, another man in his 70s, a woman in her 70s and a preschool-aged child from the Whittlesea area.

After initially saying they lived across two households, the health department issued a statement saying they lived across three homes.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday afternoon, Victorian health Minister Martin Foley urged Melburnians not to be complacent.

“We all have our role to play here, to step up,” he said.

“This is not a time to be complacent.”

It has now been revealed the first case, a man, had flu-like symptoms from May 20 and got tested on Sunday, along with a second relative who was asymptomatic.

Other than the woman and child, no other close contacts have so far tested positive to the virus.

Health Minister Martin Foley said urgent contact tracing was underway. Picture: Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

It is not yet known if the new cases were link to the Wollert man or the Epping Woolworths contact tracing bungle, but genomic sequencing will provide further answers.

Mr Foley said there was currently nothing to link the family to Melbourne’s previous coronavirus scare, which occurred after a man became infected while he was in hotel quarantine in South Australia before flying into the city and returning to his home in Wollert earlier this month.

“The dates do not line up immediately so we cannot rule out if there is a missing link out there,” he said.

“In terms of this gentleman’s infectious period being from May 18 and the fact that our original hotel quarantine case from Adelaide was well and truly in hotel quarantine in Victoria during that period, they do not cross over in that period in terms of incubation and they do not appear, that is, to crossover.”

The Health Department is also looking into whether the infected people were vaccinated.

Two new sites have been listed as exposure sites, including the Jump swim school in Bundoora on May 21 from 8.55am – 10.15am, and the Highpoint Shopping Centre on May 20 from 5-8pm.

Further investigations may lead to more primary close contacts and other second rings of contacts being identified, as well as further exposure sites.

Media statement: two likely positive cases of COVID-19 in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

To see where to get tested, visit https://t.co/WZI0U7BRyWpic.twitter.com/MrmiPpqMiF

— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 24, 2021

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said the first case to test positive, a man, was likely highly infectious.

“The viral load was high and with close contacts becoming positive, he is likely to be quite infectious,” Professor Sutton said.

“There (was) not a huge number of close contacts but we have to go through the interview process to identify anyone else.

“We have to ready ourselves for any other positives and when there are close contacts who do become positive, that raises the possibility that even a casual contact could become positive as well.”

Genomic sequencing is being done to determine if the cases are linked to the infected-man who flew to Melbourne after being released from hotel quarantine in Adelaide.

The state had reported almost three months without a locally acquired case. Picture: NCA NewsWire /David Crosling

It comes after Professor Sutton issued a warning on Friday about a “worrying” situation in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

Traces of COVID-19 were last Thursday picked up in wastewater in the Epping and Wollert areas, almost three weeks after the city reported the positive COVID case of the man who became infected in Adelaide hotel quarantine.

In light of the wastewater results contact tracers reviewed the man’s movements.

This led to them realising they had missed Woolworths Epping North supermarket as an exposure site.

It is located at the corner of Epping Road and Lyndarum Drive and the man went there from 5.40pm to 6.38pm on May 8.

The original exposure site – which was an error – was Woolworths Epping, at the corner of Cooper and High Streets, which is adjacent to other exposure sites.

On Friday Professor Sutton warned anyone experiencing symptoms to get tested.

“This detection (in wastewater) is of note because there are public exposure sites in the area relating to the Wollert case, who has been isolating in a health hotel outside the catchment,” he said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, anyone who has been to any exposure sites has to get tested and isolate.”

Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton has urged anyone with symptoms in Melbourne to get tested. Photo: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images.

Dozens of locations have been listed as public exposure sites since the positive case was first reported on May 11.

While the sites were mainly concentrated to Epping and Altona North, Melbourne’s CBD and the Southern Cross and Craigieburn train stations were listed as high risk.

Professor Sutton said there had been an ‘error’ in pinpointing Woolworths in Epping North as an exposure site.

“We are encouraging anyone with symptoms of COVID-19 – fever, sore throat, cough, shortness of breath, and loss or change in sense of smell or taste – to get tested,” he said.

The infected man caught COVID-19 in hotel quarantine. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Daniel Pockett.

While providing a COVID vaccine update on Monday morning, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said she would not comment on the specifics of the Victorian cases.

“We will be updated rapidly about those cases (and on) any information that relates to them,” she told reporters.

But Dr Chant said the news should serve as a warning to residents.

“Just two weeks ago (we saw a) case within NSW where we couldn‘t find the missing link for transmission,” she said.

“Again, we don’t know anything about these cases. But again, the risk is that there is an incursion.”

She also urged people not to delay getting the COVID-19 vaccine saying people shouldn’t assume they won’t be exposed to COVID-19 in the coming months.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said it was “way too early for those conversations” when asked whether Melbourne‘s northern suburbs should be declared a hotspot.