‘Concern’ that Covid-infected removalists undertook five hours of work in Melbourne apartment complex

Authorities say it has been ‘complex and challenging’ tracing the movements of Covid-infected removalists in Victoria.

Victorian authorities have revealed they’ve turned to CCTV footage following “complex and challenging” attempts to get information from three Covid-infected removalists who entered the state from NSW.

Victoria reported three new cases of the virus on Tuesday linked to two separate leaks from NSW.

Authorities remain deeply concerned about the group of Sydney removalists who transited through the state, forcing an entire apartment complex in Melbourne’s west into lockdown.

In response to questions about whether the three removalists had been forthcoming with contact tracers, Victorian Covid testing head Jeroen Weimar said authorities were using other methods to determine their movement.

Victoria's COVID-19 Commander, Jeroen Weimar said he didn’t believe the removalists were being dishonest. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

He said he didn’t believe the removalists were lying about or withholding information but they’re recollection wasn’t as accurate as he would like.

“We’ve had a number of conversations with the removalists, it is an ongoing process, we are getting information, it’s taking a long time to get information and requiring a lot of verification,” he said.

“They’re not being as forthcoming, or their recollection is not as accurate as I would like it to be and the sense of clarity isn’t emerging as quickly as I would like.

“Our public health teams were working through CCTV evidence to get a good sense of the movements.”

It comes as the state recorded three new cases on Tuesday, following 12 days without any locally acquired cases.

The Ariele Apartments building in Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s west was plunged into lockdown, with residents ordered to complete a 14-day lockdown.

The Ariele Apartments in Maribyrnong, where residents have been instructed not to leave the building unless they're seeking testing for COVID-19, or in the event of an emergency. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

The removalists from Sydney collected furniture from one of the apartments on July 8.

They transported the furniture to South Australia on Friday, when one of the removalists was contacted by NSW contact tracers, alerting him that he was a close contact of a positive case.

The removalist got tested on his return to Sydney on Saturday and returned a positive test result on Sunday.

On Monday a second removalist also tested positive.

Mr Weimar said they were “concerned” the workers, who had permits from a red zone, were doing five hours of removal work.

The Ariele Apartments building in Maribyrnong, in Melbourne’s west, was plunged into lockdown. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

“What we need people to do is comply with the obligations in (their) permits which includes needing to wear a mask, being socially distanced and you’re not doing five hours of removalist work in an apartment building,” he said.

“So we’re concerned about that.”

Despite the complex investigation of their movements, Mr Weimar said authorities were comfortable with the information they’d traced so far.

“We’ve identified the two separate families, the apartment building, we have the service stations so we’ve got a good grip on the information that we have,” he said.

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