Freedom fades as Melbourne Covid-19 clusters multiply

An end to Melbourne’s sixth lockdown appears uncertain as contact tracers scramble to identify the sources of what are now seven mystery clusters.

Victorian Covid logistics chief Jeroen Weimar on Thursday. Picture: Sarah Matray

An end to Melbourne’s sixth lockdown appears as uncertain as it has been at any point since it was imposed a week ago, as contact tracers scramble to identify the sources of what are now seven mystery clusters – five of which have emerged over the past two days.

The first of Victoria’s most recent outbreaks surfaced last week, in a teacher from Al-Taqwa College and her optometrist partner, who works in Caroline Springs – both in Melbourne’s west.

Victorian Covid logistics chief Jeroen Weimar on Thursday said authorities had ruled out any links between that couple, from Hobson’s Bay, and an earlier case in a Moonee Valley Testing Centre traffic controller.

He revealed the traffic controller had caught the virus in an “infection control breach” that involved him using the same toilets as testing centre clients who later tested positive.

The second of Victoria’s mystery outbreaks presented in a Maribyrnong man, who works at a Derrimut warehouse, also in the western suburbs.

Authorities were still searching for the source but had ruled out a link to an associated family, who returned from hotel quarantine in NSW in July.

Mr Weimar said contact tracers were much closer to identifying links between a Melton family identified on Wednesday and other known cases in the outer area, while the search continues for the source of acquisition for a father who works at the Royal Children’s Hospital and his son who is in year 1 at St Michael’s Primary School in North Melbourne.

Thursday’s three mystery outbreaks comprise a Brunswick West man, whose case is yet to be linked to any others, and three people from two separate households in Glenroy, in Melbourne’s north.

Mr Weimar said the Glenroy cases were of greatest concern, with no known links between the two households, or to any other known cases or exposure sites, and coming after more than a week of unexplained Covid detections in wastewater.

Also of concern to authorities were the cases of two women who tested positive on Wednesday after flying to Melbourne from Sydney on Monday without valid entry permits. The women were detained in hotel quarantine on arrival, and have been fined $5452 each, after their positive test results forced 46 fellow passengers into isolation.

The outbreaks have resulted in 121 cases since August 4. There were 21 locally acquired cases announced on Thursday, 17 of which have been linked to known clusters.

Following the extension on Wednesday of Victoria’s lockdown for at least an extra seven days to next Thursday, Industry Support and Recovery Minister Martin Pakula on Thursday announced the extension of jointly funded state and federal business support packages.

The latest $367m package brings total joint funding for the state’s fifth and sixth lockdowns to $1.16bn.

Eligible businesses that do not qualify for existing programs will be given a one-off payment of $10,000, while more than 95,000 businesses in Melbourne will receive $2800. Eligible workers can access commonwealth Covid-19 disaster payments.