Latrobe Covid cases linked to superspreader party on AFL grand final night

A grand final night party has been fingered as the superspreader event that forced an entire Victorian region into a snap lockdown.

New coronavirus cases that plunged another Victorian region into lockdown have been linked to a superspreader grand final party.

Health authorities sent the City of Latrobe in regional Victoria back into lockdown last night after a rapid increase in Covid-19 infections.

Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed on Wednesday morning that all of the new cases from the region could be linked either directly or indirectly to an illegal gathering on Saturday night.

“It involved directly or indirectly 19 household and it was held over the weekend on Saturday night, so you can draw your links that it might well have had some crossover with the AFL Grand Final,” he said.

A group of 19 households gathered on AFL grand final night in Latrobe. Picture: Michael Klein

“It seems that all of the cases we have identified today and yesterday were linked either directly or indirectly to that event.”

He said there were 19 households affected across three separate townships in Latrobe – Morwell, Traralgon and Moe.

Mr Foley said the focus at the moment was the public health response and any police investigation into the gathering would be secondary.

Victoria's Health Minister Martin Foley said all updates could be linked directly or indirectly to the event. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Four new cases across two households were recorded in Latrobe on Wednesday, taking the total in the local government areas to 22 infections in the past two days.

There are now only six reasons to leave home in the City of Latrobe, the same as what applies in metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.

Acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said the lockdown would last for seven days to “limit the growth in cases”.

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Originally published as Latrobe Covid cases linked to superspreader party on AFL grand final night