Victorian government admits contact tracing ‘fell down’ as wrong Woolworths store listed

Brett Sutton has defended Victorian contact tracers’ latest bungle after the wrong supermarket was listed as an exposure site.

Brett Sutton has defended Victorian contact tracers’ latest bungle, saying there is “no evidence” linking the latest mistake to a fresh outbreak in Melbourne’s north.

Victoria’s contact tracing team have been slammed by the Australian Medical Association for letting the state down after listing the wrong supermarket as an exposure site.

The Victorian government was forced to admit its contact tracing team “fell down” again after it took almost two weeks to realise they had the wrong Woolworths store.

The health department originally listed Woolworths Epping as an exposure site after a Victorian man returned from hotel quarantine in South Australia and tested positive.

But it was Woolworths Epping North more than 4km away that the positive case actually visited, with the contact tracers taking almost two weeks to realise the bungle.

Professor Sutton defended the state’s contact tracers as pressure mounted on Tuesday morning.

“There is no evidence at all at the moment that any of the five cases we have identified over the last 24 hours are linked to that particular site,” the chief health officer said.

“There are many other sites and potential casual contacts where transmission may have occurred.”

Woolworths Epping was listed as an exposure site instead of Woolworths Epping North. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Crosling

Professor Sutton said he only had praise for the work of contact tracers.

“I don’t have any criticism for the contact tracers in relation to this case at all,” he said.

“Information on that banking app is what was used initially. We went back on the basis of the wastewater testing to re-examine that.

“We have always done that where new information comes out.

“Now that we understand that a banking app can provide the wrong information on a potential site we will use other mechanisms to absolutely lock in exposure sites.”

Health Minister Martin Foley blamed the mistake on an electronic banking receipt that listed Epping Woolworths instead of Epping North.

Professor Brett Sutton defended the contact tracers latest mistake. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

“As a result of the investigations once he turned positive and the production of his phone banking electronic receipt apps was clear it said Epping Woolworths,” he said at a Monday press conference, where he also revealed four new positive cases of community transmission.

“Where our team fell down was they took it to be Epping Woolworths straight across the road from another primary exposure site, the Indian grocer.

“As a result of the wastewater positives last week, our team went back and checked with the gentleman again and quizzed him again, and that’s where despite the banking app receipt saying Epping Woolworths, it was in fact Epping North Woolworths.”

Mr Foley said all of the staff at Epping North Woolworths on that date had been tested and were negative.

He said the four new Covid cases announced on Monday also appear not to have visited any of the exposure sites from the previous case of a Wollert man who tested positive, and authorities were searching for a “missing link”.

Health Minister Martin Foley revealed how the latest bungle unfolded on Monday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

The new cases – a man in his 30s, a man in his 70s, a woman in her 70s and a preschool-aged child – are all from the same family but spread across three households.

Mr Foley said the “working thesis” at the moment was they were connected to the Wollert case, as the family also lived in the Whittlesea area.

“When that genomic sequencing is returned that will answer that question for us,” he said.

Victorian Australian Medical Association president Julian Rait said it was surprising the exact store wasn’t “double-checked”.

“(My) banking app is not reliable when it comes to exactly the locations of those charges and costs that appear on it,” Dr Rait told the Today show.

”Any police investigator, for example, would know the need to verify information or get various different sources to confirm a site, and obviously the contact tracers have let us down in that instance.”

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said there were “serious consequences” when contact tracing was wrong.

“Labor hasn’t learned its lessons from last time and now they’re putting our recovery at risk,” he said.

3AW radio host Neil Mitchell said Victorians were “edgy” after the new cases were revealed.

“It was just about a year ago we headed into what was a hellish time in Victoria, and of course people are nervous,” he told the Today show on Tuesday morning.

“There is talk of a superspreader. If that is right, well, we are all in some trouble.”

Former federal opposition leader Bill Shorten said he “certainly” hoped the previous contact tracing issues had been fixed.

“My reaction was ‘not again’,” he told Today.

“We are just getting businesses coming out of it, schools are back.

“For our kids and small businesses I hope we are on top of it. We will have to wait and see in the coming days.”

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