Victorian Covid-19 lockdown extension justified by ‘false positives’

Victoria’s health department has confirmed two suspected ‘fleeting contact’ coronavirus cases that helped justify the decision to extend Melbourne’s lockdown were in fact false positives.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton. Picture: Getty Images

Victoria’s health department has confirmed two suspected “fleeting contact” coronavirus cases that helped justify the Andrews government’s decision to extend Melbourne’s lockdown were in fact false positives.

The news — revealed by the department late on Thursday — renewed pressure on the Victorian government to consider lifting the lockdown earlier than planned, with the case for doing so boosted by just three new cases on Thursday, all of which were linked to previously known cases.

The reclassified cases involved a woman who visited a display home in Mickleham in Melbourne’s outer northwest and a man who dined at the bayside Brighton Beach Hotel — both of which had been linked to previous cases.

When Victoria’s lockdown was extended on Wednesday, chief health officer Brett Sutton pointed to the Brighton case as proof of the heightened infectivity of the Indian B. 1.617.1 Kappa coronavirus variant.

“This variant of concern is starting to show up in places where normally it would be less likely,” he said. “So the Brighton Beach Hotel, that was an outdoor dining setting, well ventilated, where we wouldn’t expect transmission to occur.”

In quotes issued to the media ahead of Wednesday’s ­announcement, Professor Sutton described the variant as a “beast”, warning that it had “moved faster than any other strain we’ve dealt with, and we’re seeing transmission in settings and circumstances we’ve never seen before”.

Victoria’s Covid-19 logistics commander, Jeroen Weimar, earlier made reference to “at least four incidents” where people ­unknown to each other had transmitted the virus through “fleeting contact”.

Professor Sutton was asked about the display home case at Wednesday’s press conference, following reports from the ABC, which had confirmed the false positive with the woman early that morning. However, he said he was not briefed on the case.

It was not until shortly before 6pm on Thursday that the health department officially confirmed both cases were false positives.

“Moving fast and early to contain and isolate a positive case and test and trace their contacts is a fundamental part of Victoria’s Covid-19 response,” the department said.

“Out of an abundance of caution, the department will always enact immediate public health measures in response to the notification of any positive case. Cases continue to be reviewed as further information comes to hand. Once contacts are isolated and public health measures are in place, those cases can be re-evaluated, their test results can be re-run and further investigations and ­reviews can be conducted.”

Victoria’s three new cases on Thursday took the total number of community-acquired cases ­detected in the state since the current cluster emerged on May 24 to 63. Asked whether there was potential for Melburnians to be released from lockdown earlier than midnight on June 10 should case numbers stay low and linked, deputy chief health officer Allen Cheng said authorities were reviewing the situation “every day”.

“I think today is not that day, but we are keeping a very close eye on things and it really ­depends on, particularly, the number of cases that do have community exposures, and with the lockdown and contact tracing and so on, that number should ­decrease,” Professor Cheng said.

Responding to news of the false positives, Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said if the basis for the lockdown extension “turned out to be false, it should end”.

A record 57,519 tests were processed in Victoria on Wednesday, up from 51,033 tests processed on Tuesday and Friday‘s previous ­record of 56,624. Victorians also set a record for state-administered vaccinations, with 23,921 jabs given on Wednesday.