Coronavirus: All major Victorian events ‘under review’

Victorian authorities are reviewing all major events after the state’s first mystery case in more than two months attended the Test at the MCG.

Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng in Melbourne on Wednesday. Picture: David Geraghty

Victorian health authorities are reviewing all major events after the state’s first mystery case in more than two months attended the second day of the Test at the MCG, forcing thousands of cricket fans to self-quarantine.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Allan Cheng said on Wednesday authorities were watching to see whether there was a resurgence in cases before the Australian Open on February 8.

“We’ll be going through all of the major events planned in the next couple of weeks and just start looking at some of those again, just to make sure,” he said.

“With the Open, we still have a little bit of time so we just want to see how this goes.”

It comes after a man in his 30s went to the Boxing Day sales at Melbourne’s biggest retail centre, Chadstone, before attending the second day of the Test at the MCG on December 27.

Professor Cheng said the man did not develop symptoms until December 30 and was not ­believed to be infectious when he attended the MCG or ­Chadstone.

“The upstream contacts are the people we’re most concerned about,” he said.

“These are the people he has been in contact with in the 14 days prior to the symptoms starting, most likely about five or six days before symptoms started.”

The 8000 people who were in the MCG‘s Great Southern Stand Zone 5 between 12:30pm and 3:30pm have been urged to quarantine until they get a negative test result, as are those who were in a long list of stores in Chadstone that the man went to between 6am and 2pm on December 26.

A Tennis Australia spokeswoman said the Australian Open would go ahead, with the size of the crowd adjusted to whatever restrictions were current when it takes place. “We are preparing for an Australian Open with crowds, although reduced in number from previous years, and with a strong COVIDSafe plan in place,” she said.

“Since our planning began back in March, there has been a ‘worst-case scenario’ in place to run the event without crowds for broadcast only if required.”

Meanwhile, Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam is calling for the Australian Grand Prix to be cancelled until a vaccine against the coronavirus has been rolled out.

“Hosting an event that would see tens of thousands of Victorians flock to Albert Park during a pandemic could unravel all of our hard work,” she said.

Last year, the Grand Prix was cancelled at the last minute after motorsport fans had arrived at Albert Park.

An Australian Grand Prix Corporation spokeswoman said they were continuing to work closely with the Victorian government and Formula 1 on conditions for staging the 2021 race.

The race is due to begin on March 18.