Mildura case puts in doubt lockdown reprieve for regional Victoria

The likelihood of an early reprieve from lockdown for regional Victoria has diminished with the discovery of a new COVID-19 case in Mildura, on the NSW-Victorian border, on Sunday morning.

Health authorities have said a man in his 30s from the town, 540 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, has tested positive and they believe he was at the MCG for the Carlton versus Geelong match in the MCC members’ area on level 2, which is an area of concern.

The Mildura case is in addition to the 16 new local cases announced earlier on Sunday morning and will be included in Monday’s numbers. The Health Department has declared new exposure sites at two Melbourne CBD bars and some bus lines across Bacchus Marsh in light of the new cases.

Premier Daniel Andrews speaks to the media at the daily COVID-19 press conference.Credit: Chris Hopkins

There are 59 cases connected to the Victorian outbreak, with 14,000 primary close contacts now in isolation across the state.

Premier Daniel Andrews said he “took no joy” in there being a new case in Mildura, and said it was too early to consider letting the regions out of lockdown.

“​​It is too early for us to determine whether we’ll be able to come out of this lockdown at midnight on Tuesday night,” he said.

“It is not the day for us to be announcing parts of regional Victoria being let out of this lockdown … that just confirms I think for all of us, if we needed any, that this moves quickly and a problem anywhere becomes a problem everywhere.”

The 16 locally acquired cases are all linked to current outbreaks, the Department of Health confirmed on Twitter.

Two additional cases were announced in returned travellers in hotel quarantine on Sunday.

COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar explained the full breakdown of the 16 new local cases announced on Sunday.

• Five additional cases were linked to the Ms Frankie cafe, with one staff member and four patrons returning a positive result.
• Four new household contacts of the City of Hume outbreak.
• Three new cases connected to Trinity Grammar, including one student, one staff member and one household contact
• Two people have now tested positive after attending AAMI Park for the Wallabies versus France game. Mr Weimar said they were sitting in the area of concern and entered through gate 7, which is now a tier 1 site.
• One primary close contact of one of the positive cases on Phillip Island.
• A teacher at Bacchus Marsh Grammar has also tested positive.

There were more than 53,000 test results returned on Saturday and 16,761 vaccine doses administered. Victoria now has 70 active cases.

Health authorities have identified 217 potential COVID-19 exposure sites listed across Victoria up to 9.30am on Sunday.

Popular CBD hospitality venues the Emerald Peacock on Lonsdale Street and Cookie on Swanston Street are among the latest tier 1 exposure sites listed by the Department of Health overnight.

A positive case visited the Emerald Peacock on Thursday between 6pm and 7pm, while Cookie has been listed as an exposure site between 6.30pm and 11.45pm on Thursday.

Both bars are tier 1 sites, meaning patrons who visited during those times need to isolate for 14 days and promptly get a COVID test.

The new hospitality exposures come after health authorities spent Saturday night contacting soccer fans who watched the Euro 2020 final at CBD pub the Crafty Squire on Monday morning, with patrons now required to isolate for 14 days. Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he was concerned about the Crafty Squire’s exposure threat.

A number of Christian’s school bus journeys in Bacchus Marsh, 50 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, have also been listed as tier 1 exposure sites.

Exposure sites on Thursday include the Ballan/Greendale to Bacchus Marsh via Hallets Way service between 8.10am and 8.30am, Bacchus Marsh College to Bacchus Marsh Grammar service between 8.20am and 8.40am, and the Bacchus Marsh to Ballan/Greendale service between 3pm and 4pm.

The Bacchus Marsh College Bus Interchange has also been listed as a tier 1 exposure site on Thursday between 8.21am and 8.41am.

Health authorities confirmed that among the 19 new COVID-19 cases announced on Saturday, three were connected to Bacchus Marsh Grammar, with two staff members and a student testing positive.

Rugby fans who watched the Wallabies versus France match at AAMI Stadium on Tuesday and entered via gate 7 between 7.56pm and 8.13pm have been warned they must now isolate for 14 days as it is a tier 1 exposure site.

Professor Sutton said on Saturday that the significant number of exposure sites meant Victorians needed to “brace ourselves for any possibility”.

Eighteen of Saturday’s cases were infectious in the community, for an average of 1.7 days.

There are also now increasing concerns from health authorities about the risk the Delta variant poses to younger people, particularly with a slow vaccine rollout restricting their access to the jab.

More than 60 per cent of COVID-19 cases in Victoria are aged under 40, with those infected unlikely to be vaccinated, according to a government source who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Of the 54 active cases recorded in Victoria before Sunday’s update – including 11 infections acquired overseas – 33 people were aged in their 30s or younger.

With Paul Sakkal, Tom Cowie, James Massola and Erin Pearson