Scramble to identify source of latest Victorian Covid-19 clusters
Victorian health authorities are investigating allegations of illegal gatherings and possible links to NSW hotel quarantine as they try to identify the source of two unlinked coronavirus clusters.
Victorian health authorities are investigating allegations of illegal gatherings and possible links to NSW hotel quarantine as they try to identify the source of two unlinked coronavirus clusters that have sparked the state’s sixth lockdown.
Six new Covid-19 cases were recorded in Victoria’s official numbers for Thursday, with another two confirmed during the course of the day.
Three of the cases were in quarantine during their infectious period and linked to a traffic controller at the Moonee Valley racecourse testing centre who tested positive for the virus last week.
Another two are related to a teacher in her 20s who lives in Hobsons Bay in Melbourne’s inner southwest and works at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina in the outer west, and her partner who works as an optometrist in Caroline Springs and plays for Newport in the local Australian football competition. The two cases confirmed later on Thursday relate to a household linked to the Hobson’s Bay couple.
The final case – so far unlinked to others – is a man who lives in inner west Maribyrnong and works in a warehouse further out in Derrimut.
Asked whether the Hobsons Bay couple had caught the virus at an illegal party attended by the traffic controller, Premier Daniel Andrews said: “We are not certain of that.”
Covid logistics chief Jeroen Weimar said authorities were aware of a “story going around about allegations of illegal parties”.
“We have tested those with all of the individuals in these outbreaks. There’s no evidence forthcoming,” Mr Weimar said. “There’s no indication that any such event happened.”
The source of the testing controller’s case has still not been identified despite Mr Weimar saying on Wednesday that authorities had uncovered “new information” regarding his movements. Asked on Thursday whether there was any update, Mr Weimar said: “We have strong reasons to believe that there’s a connection between the Moonee Valley testing centre, the traffic controller, and the wider outbreak.”
He refused to be drawn on whether it was believed the traffic controller had contracted the virus from a case presenting for testing, or from the wider community.
Separately, Mr Andrews said authorities were investigating links between the Maribyrnong case and a household involving people who had recently completed hotel quarantine in NSW before returning to Victoria on a “red zone” permit that required them to quarantine at home for a fortnight.
Mr Andrews highlighted more recent detections in sewage from Wangaratta, in the state’s northeast, in seeking to justify the statewide nature of his lockdown.
Promising to announce another round of business support packages as soon as Friday, Mr Andrews also foreshadowed an announcement involving making AstraZeneca available to under-60s at vaccination hubs.
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Paul Guerra slammed the short notice of lockdown. “The 8pm start, with three hours’ notice, doesn’t give any business enough time to plan nor does it recognise the huge impost this will be on operators and workers,” Mr Guerra said.
So many visits signal a whole lot of trouble
Labor is in trouble in the Northern Territory and in danger of losing at least one seat – Darwin-based Solomon – at the election.
Albanese v Dutton: a tale of two dangerous expectations
Labor started this week with its best performance in months, but the PM is still looking like a loser trying to look like a winner while his rival battles the opposite problem.