‘Very concerned’ as 21 new locally acquired Covid-19 cases recorded as Melbourne lockdown continues

There are eight mystery coronavirus cases in Melbourne with the state’s health officials ‘very concerned’ about the situation.

There are eight mystery coronavirus cases across Melbourne with the health officials “very concerned” about the situation in the city.

Victoria recorded 21 locally acquired cases in Victoria with all cases linked to recent outbreaks which extended the state’s latest lockdown.

Of today’s total number, only 11 were in quarantine during their entire infectious periods.

“We are very concerned about what we’re seeing across Melbourne,” Victoria’s coronavirus Response Deputy Secretary Kate Matson said on Saturday.

Cases from the City of Melbourne, Glenroy, Melton South, Middle Park, Newport, West Footscray, West Brunswick and Wyndham Vale do not have identified sources of acquisition, Ms Matson said.

But in good news she said testing had been able to link a Roxburgh Park case to an outbreak at Glenroy West Primary School, she said.

The deputy secretary said Glenroy was a “big focus” for health authorities and of the latest cases, 15 were cases linked to the Glenroy West school outbreak.

Two were students at the Glenroy West Primary School, one was a staff member at the school and 10 cases were linked to households.

One case is a household contact of a student previously counted as a case, and another is a student from a Laverton school who took a bus where a person on board was a previously reported case.

It comes as Health Minister Martin Foley urged people to get tested and announced more drive-through vaccination hubs would be opened in the city’s north, west and southeast.

“We will be establishing more drive-through sites, particularly in the north, in the Wyndham area, in Melbourne’s southeast,” Mr Foley said.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said yesterday’s four “mystery cases” were of “particular concern”. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Ascui

He also said three people were in hospital with the virus and one of those is in intensive care.

The Minister said 33,675 people got tested yesterday but urged people to get checked if they had any concerns.

“While we’ve been averaging more than 40,000 tests per week, we really do need to get that 33,000 number back up to that 40,000 number to help us track down those chains of transmission,” Mr Foley said.

There were 15 local cases recorded on Friday and zero infections from international arrivals.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said four of those were “mystery cases” which was of “particular concern”.

“These are individuals who don’t know that they were infectious at the time,” he said.

“They’ve developed symptoms, gotten tested and done the right thing and isolating.

“They’ve been out in the community within the restrictions imposed in the lockdown but still shopping for food, going out for essential reasons.

“Those exposure sites are quite numerous, because that individual wasn’t already identified.”

His comments came as the list of exposure sites ballooned past 400; many of them in Melbourne’s west but a number also in inner Melbourne.