‘Disturbing news overnight’: Delta COVID-19 variant detected in Melbourne

The Delta coronavirus strain that originated in India has been detected in Melbourne’s latest COVID-19 cases that are not linked to the current outbreak.

Genomic testing of members of a family of four who returned from Jervis Bay in NSW has revealed they have the new variant. This is a different variant to the other cases which have been linked back to the outbreak from South Australia, which are the Kappa variant.

Health authorities still don’t know what the source of this variant is – Victoria, NSW, or elsewhere. It has yet to be genomically linked back to coronavirus cases in hotel quarantine.

The Delta strain is the second variant spotted in India – formerly known as B.1.617.2, until it was renamed this week by the World Health Organisation.

“It is a very significant concern,” Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said. “It has not been linked to any sequence cases across Australia from hotel quarantine or anywhere else.”

Unlike Kappa, the variant at the centre of Melbourne’s outbreak, Delta is now considered a variant of concern by the WHO.

Evidence suggests it is substantially more transmissible than the Alpha variant – already more transmissible than the virus that came out of Wuhan – and is able to slightly reduce the effectiveness of vaccines.

How did a Melbourne family pick up the new strain?

The cases that have the new variant are a family that returned from Jervis Bay in NSW but health authorities do not know where the variant was first picked up in Melbourne.

A Sydney man who sparked a recent scare in that city has had the Delta variant, according to Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly.

“We know this family travelled to Jervis Bay, and we are examining who is the likely index case in this family, and therefore trying to trace back, where this variant has been picked up,” Professor Sutton said.

“In terms of the ongoing sequencing, we will try to look at all other sequences, re-sequence to the fullest extent possible across Australia, to see if there are any potential linkages to known cases that includes those who have come through formal quarantine, but also anyone else – maritime, airline, diplomatic and otherwise. It’s obviously a concern that it’s not linked to other cases, but we are absolutely, as we’ve done for the Melbourne cluster, chasing down all of those primary close contacts for this family.”

The discovery of the new variant in Melbourne cases – which Professor Sutton described as “disturbing news overnight” – comes as the state recorded four new local coronavirus cases on Friday. Two cases were also recorded in hotel quarantine.

Three of four new COVID-19 cases are from the same family, two parents and a child, and are linked to the West Melbourne outbreak.

Extended lockdown timetable to remain despite two false-positive cases

Meanwhile, the timetable for the state’s extended COVID-19 lockdown will not be changed despite two local cases of “fleeting transmission” being reclassified as false positives.

Victorian authorities revealed late on Thursday that two cases of “stranger-to-stranger transmission” – the existence of which had been used to build the case for the extended lockdown – have been reclassified as false positives.

In the daily COVID-19 update, COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said the reclassification of the two cases did not materially alter the decision on the lockdown.

“We did not make a decision about where we were with the entire outbreak based on these two cases alone,” he said.

“They are two cases in the context of 60 and if we’re going to entirely focus on casual contacts [who have tested positive], which is not the entire focus of the investigation, we’ve got eight of those at this point in time that we’re worried about, we’ve got two less than we did have; it doesn’t change the narrative and the structure and the dynamics of what we’re seeing is happening with this outbreak.”

Earlier on Friday, acting Premier James Merlino said the two recent false-positive cases would not alter the state’s lockdown timetable.

“The proposition put forward by public health was that we needed this further seven-day period for Greater Melbourne to absolutely run this thing to the ground, and that remains the case,” he said.

The two cases, which have both been reclassified, had been used to build the case for extending Melbourne’s lockdown.Credit: Daniel Pockett

“We’ve got a high number of cases, many of them have some concern to public health.

“There are a number of other cases where we’ve seen fleeting contact and transmission.”

The two cases related to a woman who was thought to have acquired the virus at a Metricon display home exposure site at Mickleham, and a male who was believed to have contracted the virus while dining at the Brighton Beach Hotel.

Both cases were reviewed by an expert panel and retesting of the individuals revealed they did not have COVID-19.

Victoria records four new cases

The state recorded four new local cases of COVID-19 on Friday. There were 24,169 vaccine doses administered, according to the Health Department tweet, and 49,439 test results were received.

This means there are now 72 active cases of coronavirus in Victoria.

Commonwealth and Victoria strike deal for new quarantine facility

On Friday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced an agreement had been struck with the Victorian government over a new quarantine facility in Melbourne.

Under that deal, the Commonwealth government will provide the construction costs while Victoria bears the costs of operating the centre.

Victoria will also run the purpose-built quarantine facility.

“This will both assist them in the risk management of the various groups that they’re providing for in their quarantine system, as well as delivering additional capacity for the quarantine system in Victoria,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Morrison described what he called a “significant improvement” in the vaccination rollout.

He said there would be a “bringing forward” of access for 40-to-49-year-olds by June 8.

Mr Morrison said more than 750,000 doses were administered in the past week and more than 1 million in the past 10 days.

With Liam Mannix

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