Coronavirus: Victoria to use NSW as contact tracing role model

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has revealed the state will move to a contact tracing regime akin to that of NSW.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton. Picture: Ian Currie

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer has revealed the state will move to a contact tracing regime akin to that of NSW to stay on top of the pandemic as case numbers fall in the southern state.

Professor Brett Sutton’s comments follow a string of bungles in which close contacts have not been notified for more than a fortnight that they had been exposed­ to the virus, and people were incorrectly told they had the virus when they did not, as contact tracers battled an active caseload which peaked at 7880 cases on August 11.

In NSW, Queensland and other jurisdictions, authorities have been able to stay on top of a second wave of COVID-19 infections through the rapid public­ation of locations linked to transmission of the virus.

Professor Sutton said: “That’s exactly what we’re working up at the moment. I think we’re at a point where we can do that.

“We need to be sure that we can keep it live, make sure that it‘s updated on a daily basis and make sure that it’s absolutely correct and contemporary data.

“The reality for Victoria is that listing a particular site in the north and west of Melbourne shouldn’t really change our action­s in terms of what we’re meant to do, but I think it might have particular relevance in rural and regional Victoria, or some other places where maybe people have gotten complacent about the fact that they haven’t seen a confirmed case there.

“If there’s a prompt that makes people reflect on the fact that they’re symptomatic and get tested … that’s a good thing.”

Professor Sutton’s comments came as Victorian authorities disputed a Nine News report claiming the state had more than 30 times the COVID-19 caseload of NSW, but only half that state’s number of contact tracers.

A government spokeswoman said Victoria’s 2600-strong public health team had been initiating contact with every positive case within 24 hours, with close contact followed­ up “as soon as possible, either via phone calls or text messages”.

“As part of this case, contact and outbreak management team, there are up to 1700 local and interstate staff calling affect­ed Victorians for thorough ­contact tracing, with additional surge capacity if needed, working alongside 900 team members … such as epidemiologists, public health clinicians, logistics, phone operators and data entry staff,” the spokeswoman said.

In NSW, contact tracing teams were boosted early in the pandemic, leading to success with the control of emerging outbreaks once quarantine restrictions were lifted.