Victoria records nine new local coronavirus cases

All of Victoria’s latest coronavirus cases are linked to known outbreaks, including three more children recorded today, but Melburnians are warned not expect a “snap back” to normal when this lockdown ends.

The state recorded nine new locally acquired COVID-19 cases overnight, as well as two yesterday in Arcare at Maidstone, totalling 11 for the last 24-hour results period. There are now 94 active cases in the state.

“There are 32 cases linked to the Whittlesea outbreak and that is three new cases today,” Mr Foley said. “All of those three are household contacts of existing cases and have all been in quarantining for their infectious period.

“There are the three new cases in Arcare Maidstone bringing the total number to nine: that being one resident and two new staff members. Two of these were announced yesterday by Arcare but were included in today’s numbers.

“The next four cases are household contacts of cases in the West Melbourne outbreak, bringing the total cases in that particular outbreak to 14,” Mr Foley said. Those four new cases are the three children and an adult.

“There is one new case in the Port Melbourne outbreak, bringing the total cases there to 31. That person is a previously identified construction site worker in the city,” Mr Foley said.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said while it was reassuring that there were only a few new exposure sites stemming from today’s cases, Victorians still needed to follow existing advice ahead of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

“It is good news that we have no significant new exposure sites out of all the positive cases today,” Professor Sutton said.

“That is something I’d expect to see more and more of as days go by.

“The long weekends should have the same messages for everyone. It is certainly not a snap back to large gatherings and a full MCG. People need to consider all of those key messages around isolating if they have symptoms and getting tested and all of the other messages that we have.”

There are no new cases in hotel quarantine. More than 24,000 tests were processed and more than 40,000 vaccine doses administered on Sunday, including 17,719 via Victorian authorities.

More than a third of the record 832,000 vaccines administered across the country last week were administered in Victoria. Over 327,000 doses were administered through state and Commonwealth clinics in Victoria, with 59 per cent of people aged over 70 and 43 per cent of people aged over 50 having now received at least one dose of a vaccine.

The state also has more than 640,000 doses of both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines available, national Vaccine Operations Centre boss Commodore Eric Young said on Monday.

“This week will be our biggest week. 1.1 million doses will be distributed to 2500 locations across the country,” Commodore Young said.

He said all 596 aged care facilities in Victoria have received first-dose visits, but 139 were still waiting for second doses.

Roving clinics were continuing to visit facilities in Victoria that had already had a first dose visit to offer vaccines to people who may have missed out or turned it down initially.

Australia’s Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly encouraged all eligible Australians to go out and get vaccinated.

“Many more people are now eligible in Australia to get vaccinated. I really encourage anyone who is in any of those groups that are now eligible to be vaccinated, to get out there, roll up your sleeve and get the jab,” he said.

Professor Kelly said the Therapeutic Goods Administration had also received a submission from Pfizer calling for permission to inoculate children over the age of 12 with Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. The medical regulator is still considering the proposal.

At the moment, the vaccine is approved for use in people aged over 16 and all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people over 16 can now get the vaccine. The UK approved the vaccine for use in 12 to 15-year-olds late last week, while the US approved it for that age group in early May.

Another train line was added overnight to Victoria’s long list of exposure sites, which now contains 354 locations.

A person with coronavirus travelled on the Upfield line between Merlynston station and the CBD last week from Wednesday to Friday between 6am and 4pm.

COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar on Monday highlighted two areas of specific concern for health authorities.

The first is Arcare Maidstone, the second is the construction site on Queen St in the CBD.

“We have over 490 primary close contacts. Over 400 have returned a negative test result, an encouraging step forward but there are a few more to chase down,” he said.

Other new exposure sites over the weekend include a high-rise city building, a shopping centre in Melbourne’s north and a wholesaler.

A resident at Arcare Maidstone aged care has tested positive to COVID-19 and is seen being transferred to hospital for public health reasons.Credit: Nine News

On Sunday, authorities issued a warning for suburbs in Melbourne’s inner north-west after virus fragments were found in wastewater on Wednesday.

The Victorian government announced on Monday it would provide an extra $30 million for emergency food relief and financial support for people disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

About $13 million will go to the Extreme Hardship Program to help people who are not eligible for income support from the federal government.

Food relief agencies will get $4.5 million to expand their capacity, on top of $31 million of additional funding they have received since February 2020.

Some of this is to be spent on new partnerships between food relief agencies and local restaurants and cafes.

Just over $12 million of the new funding will go towards ensuring multicultural Victorians can access culturally appropriate emergency support.

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