‘Not out of the woods yet’: Hunt on for source of state’s four new COVID-19 cases

Melburnians must continue to wear masks outdoors as health authorities investigate how four new locally acquired COVID-19 cases were infected.

As the city prepares for restrictions to ease at 11.59pm on Thursday, authorities have revealed they are investigating how a family of four in Reservoir picked up the virus after initial interviews failed to reveal any crossover with existing exposure sites.

They are also waiting on genomic test results to determine which strain of the virus the family have.

The four new local cases recorded on Thursday are currently being considered as a new cluster and related exposure sites have been added to the Health Department’s list of places visited by people with COVID-19. A couple from Melton who tested positive for COVID-19 in Queensland on Wednesday after driving to the Sunshine Coast vis NSW have not been included in Victoria’s coronavirus tally.

Acting Premier James Merlino has confirmed Victoria will still ease restrictions on Thursday night, but with one exception. Melburnians will now be required to continue to wear masks outdoors as well as indoors.

“We are moving ahead, but we are on high alert,” Mr Merlino said during the daily COVID-19 update.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said it was still too early for working theories on how the family of four picked up the virus. He noted, however, that they lived in Reservoir, halfway between the city and the local government area of Whittlesea, where the outbreak started and many cases have been concentrated.

“Obviously, what I am anxious about is that whoever gave infection to both these groups [the couple who travelled to Queensland and the family of four] is identified quickly and doesn’t have the opportunity to transmit to other people,” he said.

The Reservoir family includes a man in his 80s, a woman in her 70s, a man in his 50s and a man in his 20s.

The first case in the family, the man in his 80s, became symptomatic on June 7 and got tested the next day, meaning exposure sites were limited.

Professor Cheng nonetheless cast doubt on lifting more restrictions next week, a move the government had foreshadowed on Wednesday.

“As I’ve said before, once we get down to small numbers, what happens next is very dependent on who those last cases are, what they do and how infectious they are,” Professor Cheng said.

“I think one thing we were very keen to make sure … was that there weren’t any links to sensitive settings like schools or disability settings or public housing or anything like that,” Professor Cheng said.

Despite them having no link to those high-risk settings, he said the four cases were the “strongest reminder that we are in no means out of the woods yet”.

“So, depending on how things go in the next week, and as the last week’s case have shown it really is very much a day-to-day proposition, we may need to hold the current settings a little longer,” he said.

“But obviously we’ll have more to say on this as investigations proceed.”

There were no new cases in hotel quarantine recorded on Thursday and there are now 78 active cases in the state.

The state administered 20,784 doses of coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday taking the total number of state-administered doses to 725,049.

COVID-19 response Commander Jeroen Weimar said 19 of the 210 testing sites across the state had been suspended due to wild weather overnight. Vaccination centres have not been affected and have been “slightly quieter” over the past few days.

Mr Weimar said the public health team had also contacted all primary close contacts isolating in areas that were at risk of flooding.

“[We] gave them advice on procedures should they need to be evacuated and how to do that safely,” Mr Weimar said.

He said health authorities would contact anyone in that situation, especially those in vulnerable locations and that there was advice for people who need to check on regional properties on the department’s website.

New exposure sites

New exposure sites include Marco Fine Food and Groceries in Reservoir, a BP in Thomastown, the Coles at Bundoora Square and Bunnings Warehouse in Thomastown.

If you have been to those locations in the times indicated on the government exposure site list, it’s important you get tested as soon as possible.

Melbourne couple infectious during travel to Queensland

Authorities are also still working to trace the movements of the Victorian couple who drove to Queensland earlier this month before testing positive on the Sunshine Coast.

The Queensland government announced on Thursday morning that the husband of a Melbourne woman who tested positive the previous day had also tested positive. The husband was tested in Sunshine Coast University hospital overnight.

The pair travelled from Melbourne on June 1, arriving in Queensland by car on June 5.

Professor Cheng said the Melbourne couple became symptomatic on June 3, meaning they were infectious from about the time they left home.

“While we can’t pinpoint the source of this infection, we’re aware that one of the cases checked in near the Craigieburn shopping centre on May 23 … we’ve had nine cases linked to that shopping centre to date,” he said.

The couple were first interviewed by Queensland health authorities and then NSW, with Victorian contact tracers to speak with them later on Thursday. It’s still unclear how the couple became infected.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said there was a very real risk to the state posed by the couple.

Meanwhile, Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said she would not judge anyone’s behaviour until she had all the facts as to why the couple travelled from Melbourne to Brisbane while Victoria was in lockdown.

Federal Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly also officially lifted the hotspot declaration over Greater Melbourne on Thursday.

The hotspot was originally declared for a week from May 28 before it was extended on June 4 until 11.59pm on Thursday.

The end of the hotspot designation means federal financial support for Melburnian workers affected by the COVID-19 lockdown announced last week will come to an end.

Mr Merlino revealed that Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas had unsuccessfully asked his federal counterpart Josh Frydenberg to extend the income support.

“My understanding is the Commonwealth aren’t going to reconsider the timing or the nature of their income support. That’s a matter for them,” the acting Premier said.

Professor Kelly also said that a second woman had died from a severe form of the rare blood clotting syndrome linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.

The 52-year-old from NSW had a blood clot in the brain. Three other cases of the rare clotting disorder - called Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS) were also confirmed in the last week.

Professor Kelly said more than 3.6 million doses of the vaccine have been administered in Australia with only two deaths.

“I will point out that this remains an extremely rare event to get these serious clots,” he said.

“But when they happen, as we’ve seen in this case, it can have tragic circumstances so my heart certainly goes out to the family and to all the friends and colleagues of this particular person.”

There Therapeutic Goods Administration also said there had been one case of TTS in a 77-year-old man from NSW, one in a 70-year-old man from South Australia and another in an 87-year-old South Australian woman. A further four cases were classified as probable, taking the total number of the rare clotting cases to 48.

With additional reporting by Rachel Clun, David Estcourt and Stuart Layt

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