Victorian outbreak likely ‘fastest moving’ to hit Australia as authorities grapple with new strain

Victoria is hopefully just two days away from ending its lockdown — but health authorities have revealed how bad things were when the outbreak started.

Victoria has recorded nine new cases of coronavirus — but with six already reported yesterday, there’s hope the state could be getting its outbreak under control.

Health authorities yesterday said six positive cases had been detected after its midnight reporting period meaning Victoria technically only recorded three new cases today.

Reported yesterday: 9 new local cases and 2 new cases acquired overseas (currently in HQ).
- 20,484 vaccine doses were administered
- 42,699 test results were received

More later: https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco#COVID19Vic#COVID19VicDatapic.twitter.com/NwsnE1Hgth

— VicGovDH (@VicGovDH) May 31, 2021

Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said two of the cases were primary close contacts, who were already quarantining during their infectious period.

The final case is still under investigation.

“They are not a contact and are not are directly linked to any exposure site but there is very close proximity to other exposure sites and we are confident the investigation ongoing will uncover further crossover,” he said.

Mr Foley said health authorities were still assessing the state’s coronavirus outbreak on a “day to day basis”.

“There continues to be significant concerns around ongoing transmission and particularly our northern suburbs and many large exposure sites that have been added to the exposure site list over the last 36 hours,” he said.

“Our public health team are currently weighing whether there is still coronavirus circulating in these communities and we will still consider our response to the current outbreak on a day by day basis.”

There are 28 cases linked to the City of Whittlesea, in Melbourne’s north.

Victoria's Health Minister Martin Foley. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

State’s latest outbreak ‘fastest moving in Australia’

Victoria’s testing commander Jeroen Weimar has explained exactly how the state was hit by its most recent coronavirus outbreak and admitted it was likely the “fastest moving” ever to hit Australia.

“This is the biggest outbreak ... this year. It is one of the most, certainly the fastest moving outbreak we’ve seen anywhere in Australia. For a long time,” he said.

“ I’m not taking this lightly. I am confident that we are doing everything we possibly can to get on top of this and I’m confident that all of us as Victorians are out there willing this thing to be over and willing us all to get on top of it and by behaving in the right way.

“As we saw yesterday, we are only one positive test result away from having to go down another rabbit hole. So there is more work to do.”

The state’s outbreak started when a Victorian, who completed two weeks of hotel quarantine in South Australia, inadvertantly caught it as he was leaving the state.

The man left hotel quarantine on May 4 and boarded a plane on the same day to fly home to Melbourne.

“He went to work on the fifth (of May) and the sixth, at Datapoint Melbourne, and that over the subsequent few days he went into the city, he had a curry, he visited a number of grocery stores,” Mr Weimar said.

“We identified at the time over 120 primary close contacts across those exposures ... all of those locations have been fully exhausted, he returned no positive primary close contacts throughout his exposure period, but all of those individuals completed their 14 day period as appropriate.

“We are absolutely clear that there is a missing link between this individual and the subsequent outbreak that we have seen at Whittlesea and Port of Melbourne.”

Mr Weimar said the state was dealing with an outbreak that was “quite different” to others it had seen before.

“We are concerned about evidence ... where we have seen transmission in places with very fleeting contact,” he said.

We are used to, with previous variants, transmission occurring in the home, in the workplace, where people know each other already, not all of those big social settings. These are quite different.”

Victorian Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

Victorian opposition insist lockdown will last ‘a lot longer’ than seven days

Despite the small number, the state’s mystery cases, surging infections and a rapidly growing list of exposure sites have heightened fears Victoria’s “circuit breaker” seven-day lockdown could be extended.

Victoria’s lockdown is due to end at 11.59pm on Thursday, seven days after the government ordered its state to stay at home.

The state recorded 11 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number of infections in the cluster to 54.

At least one of yesterday’s cases was dubbed a “mystery case” and another was revealed to have been infectious since May 14.

Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien weighed in on the state’s outbreak yesterday, saying it seemed clear the lockdown would last “a lot longer” than seven days.

“It’s a very concerning day for Victorians. The pretty clear message is that we can’t look forward to restrictions being eased on Friday,” he said, according to the Herald Sun.

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Australian Defence Force members practice correct application of PPE.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, Mr O’Brien said the language coming from the Victorian government was “very disappointing”, accusing them of “playing politics and passing responsibility” instead of looking out for residents suffering from the lockdown.

Multiple factors could determine lockdown extension

The government has continually refused to be drawn on whether the lockdown will end at 11.59pm on Thursday as planned, with Acting Premier James Merlino saying it wasn’t just the case numbers that would determine if restrictions are extended.

“It’s the type of cases. It’s where it’s occurring. It’s [whether] we know where they’re linked, if are they high-risk sites,” he said yesterday.

“All of those things are taken into account by the public health team in terms of when they’re confident to provide advice to government that we can then go towards some easings of restrictions.”

Mr Merlino said the outbreak “may well get worse before it gets better”.

Chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said Victoria was “neck and neck with this virus”, describing it as an “absolute beast”.

RELATED: Victoria faces ‘worst case scenario’

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton speaks to the media. Picture: Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

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He said authorities were discussing the lockdown measures day to day, but the latest developments were “really concerning”.

“We’ve gone from a single case of the beginning of the month to 4200 primary close contacts,” he said.

“It has been a rapidly moving virus and the transmission that has occurred in those high-risk settings has been very substantial.

“So we have to take it as a day by day prospect. With more numbers today coming through and those really concerning settings, especially in aged care, we are neck and neck with this virus and it is an absolute beast.”

He said Victoria has to “prepare for anything” in the coming days.

“We don’t know what will unfold over coming days,” he said. “We have said that all the way through.

Exposure sites explode, infections spread into aged care

There are now more than 320 exposure sites spread across Victoria, sending contact tracers scrambling to identify close contacts.

A “significant number” of exposure sites were added to the list on Monday, including multiple bus routes, a DFO shopping outlet and Big W store among some of the sites.

Melbourne’s coronavirus crisis has now spread to four aged care homes, with Arcare Aged Care Home, in the west Melbourne suburb of Maidstone, now having three cases linked to it.

The home was put in lockdown over the weekend after a worker, a woman aged in her 50s, tested positive to coronavirus late Saturday night.

On Monday, Arcare confirmed a second staff member and a resident in her 90s had since tested positive to coronavirus. The woman’s son has also tested positive for coronavirus.

The resident had received one dose of the Pfizer vaccine however the second team member had not received any vaccinations.

The aged care resident is displaying mild symptoms however has been taken to hospital as a precaution.

“Arcare is well prepared for this outbreak and our infection control practices position us well to manage this effectively,” the aged care provider said.

Another of positive coronavirus case is a worker at an aged care home in Sunshine, the suburb next to Maidstone in Melbourne.

The staff member at BlueCross Western Gardens tested positive late on Sunday and is a close contact of the care worker who tested positive at Arcare.

Victorians know all to well how much devastation the virus can cause inside aged care settings, with more than 600 people living in facilities across dying during the state’s second wave of infections last year.