Second protester tests positive after Melbourne demonstrations

A protester at one of Melbourne’s disruptive anti-lockdown demonstrations was infected with coronavirus, according to the state’s testing tsar.

A protester at one of Melbourne’s disruptive anti-lockdown demonstrations last week has tested positive to Covid-19.

Commander Jeroen Weimar said the man, aged in his 30s and from Geelong, said he had been included as part of Friday’s case numbers.

“I’m not sure which day he attended but again … the protests are not immune from Covid,” he said on Sunday.

The demonstrator who tested positive to coronavirus is in his 30s and lived in Geelong, COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said on Sunday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Paul Jeffers

Mr Weimar said it was unlikely the demonstrator caught the virus at a protest, but was likely infectious when he attended.

“Protests are not immune from those transmission risks and we now have at least two individuals we’re aware of, both of whom tested positive … both of whom were at the protest and that would have been a risk to those around them,” he said.

The man was not in hospital and it was not clear where he contracted the virus.

Demonstrators swarmed the West Gate Bridge and brought traffic to a standstill on Tuesday. Picture: Alex Coppel.

However he said it was a “good sign” that those two people who did attended the demonstrations got tested.

It comes as the state recorded the death of two men – aged in their 70s and 80s – and 779 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday.

But the state is expected to hit the key vaccination target of 80 per cent of the population receiving a single dose on Tuesday.