Covid Victoria: Melbourne lockdown extended another week, 6 new cases

A second elderly resident at an aged care facility in Melbourne’s northwest has tested positive for Covid as Victoria’s lockdown was extended and the outbreak hit 61 cases.

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A second resident at the Arcare Maidstone aged care home has tested positive for Covid-19 but is asymptomatic after receiving two doses of the vaccine.

The 95-year-old, who is understood to be a close contact of a 99-year-old woman who contracted the virus earlier this week, returned a positive test on Wednesday after previously returning an indeterminate test result.

It is the seventh case to be recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of community cases linked to the outbreak to 61.

It comes as Victoria’s fourth lockdown was extended for at least another week.

The latest positive brings the number of new cases recorded in the past 24 hours to seven,

There are currently 5200 primary close contacts, with 78 per cent returning a negative test result.

Up to 700 primary close contacts were added overnight.

Acting Premier James Merlino said the best way to stop the virus was through vaccination.

“But as we know, only 2 per cent of our population is fully vaccinated. If we let this thing run its course, it will explode,” he said.

“We’ve got to run this to ground because if we don’t, people will die.”

He announced some eased restrictions, including extending the 5km radium to 10km.

A number of outdoor jobs will be added to the authorised list, such as landscaping, painting, installing solar panels or letterboxing.

Other restrictions, including mask-wearing, will remain in place.

“At the end of another seven days, we do expect to be in a position to carefully ease restrictions in Melbourne, but there will continue to be differences between the settings in Melbourne compared to regional Victoria,” Mr Merlino said.

“So I want to be upfront with people that even if all goes well, we won’t be able to have people from Melbourne travelling to regional Victoria during the Queen’s Birthday long weekend. The risk of exporting this virus is just too high.”

Mr Merlino also warned people against breaking lockdown rules and called for anyone working in regional Victoria to check IDs to ensure compliance.

“We’ve also seen previous examples of people who left Melbourne, broke the rules and took the virus with them,” he said.

“We do not want to see that happen again, particularly with this variant of concern that is this outbreak.

“So to that end, businesses that are open in regional Victoria but closed in Melbourne — so restaurants and beauty, for example — must check the IDs of everyone they serve.

“We know it is an extra ask of staff and on customers, but ultimately this is about keeping your community safe. We will also expand our service Victoria QR requirements to make it mandatory to check into retail settings, such as supermarkets and shops and that will apply across the whole of our state.”

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said one of the six cases announced on Wednesday was linked to Stratton Finance in Port Melbourne.

“(They have) been in quarantine for their entire potentially infectious period, so no new exposure sites from that individual,” he said.

“One individual is linked to Brighton Beach Hotel. They have been staying at their home in Anglesea and therefore there are a number of exposure sites in Anglesea which have been posted online.”

URGENT ALERT FOR COSTCO SHOPPERS TO GET TESTED

Bargain hunters who have visited a popular Costco in Melbourne may have been exposed to the coronavirus as Victoria’s list of virus hot spots expands.

The Docklands wholesale store has been listed a Tier 1 exposure site after a positive case attended on May 31 between 3.30pm and 4.20pm.

Several other Tier 1 sites have also been added to the Health Department’s website, including Carlton Scouts Group and Elite Swimming in Ascot Vale.

Read the full story here.

CROWN STAFF STOOD DOWN

Crown Melbourne will stand down the majority of its staff, after the extension of Melbourne’s lockdown was announced on Wednesday.

In a statement, Crown Resorts said it will continue to support staff financially by paying a “one off discretionary payment”, including to eligible casual staff.

“Crown has previously announced that it will pay Crown Melbourne employees’ rostered hours and

salaries (as applicable) over the initial seven day lockdown period,” the statement read.

Crown Melbourne’s gaming floor remains closed but hotel accommodation is still being provided.

ROAD TO REOPENING

Prof Sutton said it wasn’t likely there would be no new cases recorded in the next week.

“I don’t expect that we’ll get zero cases for the next week. We will look at the data every day,” he said.

“If there is no transmission whatsoever, if there are no new exposures, if there are no new cases, that will put us in a really good position to ease (restrictions) substantially, with the recognition that there will still be thousands of people who need to finish their incubation period who could still become cases, that there still might be unknown chains of transmission who haven’t stepped up and gotten tested.”

Prof Sutton said there was no magic number to determine when the state would come out of lockdown.

“We are doing rings of control here that make a difference more comprehensively than has ever been done before,” he said.

“So I would not be concerned if we have got lots of primary close contacts but they are all quarantining and they will turn positive and do not generate new exposure sites. That is a key feature, yes.”

Prof Sutton said it wasn’t possible to “crystal ball gaze” in these situations.

“What has played out has played out and we did not know that we would see it introduced into an aged care facility,” he said.

“We do not know that someone who is incredibly infectious just sees their immediate family or goes to a nightclub or goes to a dining setting with many other people.

“And so one week, fingers crossed, could have been absolutely enough. But we have seen (an) explosion in exposure sites and we need to bear that in mind in extending them.”

RING OF STEEL RULED OUT

Mr Merlino said there would be no “ring of steel” around Melbourne this time, saying the previous measure was resource-intensive.

Instead, mobile patrols and other measures would be used to detect Melbourne travellers on regional roads.

“The best way to enforce these measures that we are talking about is via those mobile patrols both in terms of our arterial roads as well as the back roads; spot checks in regional Victoria; use of technology in terms of number plates to check that someone in regional Victoria is appropriately in regional Victoria,” he said.

But while there will be no ring of steel guarding the metropolitan border, police will take a no tolerance approach to rule breakers.

The public has been warned Operation Sentinel, the coronavirus enforcement squad, will be out in force to ensure Melburnians are not sneaking into regional Victoria as it is freed from lockdown on Friday.

Police will be conducting proactive road and foot patrols to ensure compliance in public spaces and businesses.

“Victoria Police will be conducting mobile patrols, both in vehicles and on foot across the state. The mobile vehicle patrols will utilise Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology to scan car registration details and identify the residential addresses of those licence holders,” a police spokeswoman said.

The force has vowed to come down hard on people caught breaking the rules.

Individuals who breach Covid restrictions face a fine of $1655 and businesses risk being hit with a $9913 penalty.

“Based on prior experiences, we are confident that the overwhelming majority of Victorians will do the right thing and adhere to these restrictions so we can all return to normality as soon as possible,” the police spokesman said.

“However, there are always those who choose to blatantly disregard the CHOs directions. Anyone who selfishly and deliberately chooses to put their own needs above the health and safety of the entire community, can expect to be held accountable and fined.”

Police will also continue to make house visits based on reports of breaches to the Police Assistance Line.

Melbourne will spend at least another week in lockdown. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

NO CALL MADE ON LONG WEEKEND LOCKDOWN

Mr Merlino said it was too early to make any decisions around whether Melbourne’s lockdown would be lifted ahead of the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

“We will have more to say once we get towards the end of this period, this additional seven-day period of the lockdown for Melbourne,” he said.

“But I want to be clear today that it will include a difference in settings between metro Melbourne and regional Victoria, that you will not be able to travel.

“So how that is expressed in terms of distance from home, we will have more to say about that towards the end of this next period of lockdown.”

Prof Sutton said he was “hoping for the best”.

“It’s early days. I wish I could crystal ball gaze. We do not know what tomorrow will bring, let alone a week or 10 days from now,” he said.

“We’re all hoping for the best and I think the trend is good as I say.

“The last 48 hours have seen more and more people who are not infectious in the community. That is a really good sign.”

VCE STUDENTS TO RETURN TO CLASSROOMS

Students in years 11 and 12 will return to face-to-face learning, including students in other year levels that are undertaking a Unit 3/4 VCE subject.

Mr Merlino said students would be required to wear masks at all times while at school, except when eating or drinking.

“They should try and make their way to school on their own, not get a lift with another parent and to make sure they wear a mask on public transport or otherwise as they get to school. So I think that is manageable but it is important,” he said.

Mr Merlino said this Friday would not be a pupil-free day.

“We had the pupil-free day on Friday of last week and so remote learning will continue for the majority of students in metropolitan Melbourne, for the rest of this week and for the term of the second period of the lockdown. So no additional pupil-free days,” he said.

Residents can only leave home for five reasons: care and caregiving, exercise, work and to buy groceries, or to get vaccinated. Picture: Daniel Pockett/Getty Images

Prof Sutton said the government had considered there would be “significant challenges” to some students as a result of schools being closed but said: “We are not at a point where we can confidently open schools across the board in metropolitan Melbourne at the moment”.

“The Murdoch Children’s Research was really important. They had lots of lessons for what the mitigations in school — with ventilation, with mask-wearing, with spacing — can do,” he said.

“But, again, with variants of concern, the landscape has shifted since that report. Singapore has closed schools because they’re dealing with the Delta Indian variant that has affected children more significantly, more severe illness, and more transmissible with children … but none of this is easy to choose. We are so aware of the harms across the board: personal, business, economic.

“It is that awful choice between doing what we know we need to do now for a week, versus waiting, letting this get ahead of us, and having to choose it for six or eight weeks down the track, which would be so, so much worse.

“We know that these are tough times to go through. And for kids missing out on their mates and missing out on that face-to-face learning, which would always be our preference.

“But we don’t want to be in a situation where we’ve got significant outbreaks in schools, more transmission in the community, and needing to make a choice about a longer period of lockdown, because it gets away from us.”

Liana Buchanan, Victoria’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, said the lockdown was having a harmful impact on many young people who may not have recovered from the last time.

“Last year was incredibly difficult for many children, including children with disabilities struggling with home learning, those living in families with conflict, violence or other challenges, and those experiencing mental illness,” she said.

“We know the restrictions resulted in mental ill-health among many, many children and young people who had never previously experienced it. Many have not recovered, and — however necessary — this lockdown is having a harmful impact on many.

“As we all work to curb transmission, we need to keep firmly in view the pressures and impacts on children, young people and families through this latest lockdown,” Ms Buchanan said.

FOUR MYSTERY CASES IN ONE FAMILY

Prof Sutton said four members from one family had tested positive but how they contracted the virus was still a mystery.

“The family (cases) are connected but one of them will be the index case in that family and we do not yet know how they are linked to the rest of the outbreak,” he said.

“One case from Victoria who holidayed in Jervis Bay with his family … his family have also tested positive. That’s a spouse and two children making up the remaining three new cases.

“Those two children attended North Melbourne Primary School, so that school is closed and contact tracing is under way, and we are still investigating who the index case or first case might be in this family, and indeed how they have acquired it.

“That’s not absolutely clear at this stage because there is no crossover with known exposure sites.”

“If we get the genomics back and — as I expect because New South Wales did not have community cases — it is linked to hotel quarantine in South Australia, then that will tell us that it has been picked up in Victoria. But we need the detailed epidemiological link to give us the assurance.

Health Minister Martin Foley said there had been also some new “unexpected detections” in Bendigo and on the Mornington Peninsula.

“I can advise that we have had new, unexpected detections in Bendigo, particularly between May 27 and 28, and we’ve had one unexpected detection down on the Mornington Peninsula, in that section of the peninsula between Safety Beach, down to St Andrew’s Beach and across to Portsea,” he said.

“That was recorded between May 27 and 31. There are listed exposure sites in both of these regions and we are working through those possibilities with our public health team, but the advice to members of the community in those particular areas is if you have any symptoms and if you particularly live in these areas, please get tested now.”

‘VARIANT OF CONCERN’

Prof Sutton said the “variant of concern” had shown up in places where normally it would be less likely, including outdoor settings.

“The Brighton Beach Hotel, that was an outdoor dining setting, well ventilated — you wouldn’t expect transmission to occur,” he said.

“We still had it as an exposure site, we still informed people to test and isolate until returning a negative, but in fact all of those people will need to be in quarantine because transmission has occurred there.

“That’s not something that we routinely see and we didn’t routinely see it in 2020, but we have to bear in mind that all the variants of concern now are really a step up to some degree.”

Prof Sutton said the new strain, known as the Kappa variant, was not the most infectious variant but was “more infectious than anything we saw in the beginning and middle of 2020”.

The new coronavirus super strain is jumping between strangers who brush past each other. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Andrew Henshaw

“At least one in 10 current cases have caught this virus in those casual contact settings, so not the workplace and home/close contact settings where we know and expect transmission to occur,” he said.

“I have described it as an ‘absolute beast’ because we have to run it down to the ground.

“There are a dozen countries that had no community transmission going into 2021 that have now lost control, that have community transmission, and will probably not bring it back to a point where they’ve got no community transmission again.

“We have to take a path where we drive this virus back down completely so that we can get control into the longer term.

“The fact that we are seeing transmission in some of these casual tier 2 exposure sites or even tier 3 exposure sites means we have to re-examine those sites.

“We have to reach out to people in some of those exposure sites and ask them to quarantine rather than just test and isolate because of the more contagious strain.

“Again, I’m not giving it magical qualities, I don’t need to overplay the danger here.”

Prof Sutton warned people to keep doing their part to slow the spread.

“If you are not altering your behaviour, if are you not doing contact tracing, every person passes it on to five others,” he said.

“Clearly that is not happening here. We are chasing down every case, we are chasing down their primary contacts but we have seen a growth of probably a dozen primary close contacts for that first case to thousands upon thousands.

“Those are individuals who could become positive and we are seeing individuals where we don’t know how they’ve acquired it. That means there are people out there potentially who have it and who are not aware that they are infectious.”

REGIONAL VICTORIA CHANGES

Effective from 11.59pm Thursday night, the five reasons to leave home rule will be scrapped and there will be no limit on the distance you can travel from home.

You can only travel to Melbourne for a permitted reason and you must follow Melbourne restrictions once you are there.

Outdoor gathering limits can occur with up to 10 people.

Gatherings are no longer limited to two people, and infants under 12 months are not included in that cap.

Food and hospitality will be open for seated service only, with a cap of 50 people per venue, subject to density requirements of one per 4sq m.

Retail can open and personal services such as beauty and tattooing can resume for services where masks can remain on.

Religious gatherings and ceremonies are permitted for 50 people, plus one faith leader, indoors or outdoors.

Gathering limits for weddings will be 10 people and for funerals, 50 mourners.

Junior outdoor community sport will return and adults will be able to resume training outdoors.

Outdoor pools, including swimming classes can operate with a limit of 50 people with a density quota of one per 4 sqm.

Libraries and toy libraries can open with a cap of 50 people subject to density requirements.

Outdoor seated entertainment, seated and unseated will have a patron cap of 50 people or 50 per cent of the venue’s seating capacity, whichever is lower.

RETIREMENT HOME IN LOCKDOWN

A Goulburn Valley retirement home has been placed into lockdown after staff members visited a Tier 1 exposure site.

Royal Freemasons Benalla management were told on Wednesday two of their staff were primary and secondary close contacts of someone who attended BP Euroa on May 24 between 5pm and 6pm.

In a statement, the organisation said none of their staff or residents had tested positive for Covid and the lockdown was a “precaution”.

The spokesperson said most residents living at the Benalla site had also been vaccinated.

Read the full story here

COVID PASSING VIA ‘FLEETING EXCHANGES’

Prof Sutton said a large proportion of the state’s cases had stemmed from transmissions in “casual or more fleeting exchanges”.

“We do have a suspicion that there has been transmission two hours after an infectious case has left an indoor enclosed space … two hours before the next exposed individual came in, who has become a case,” he said.

“That’s in the kind of measles category of infectiousness.

“Probably relates to an unventilated setting where someone spent a great deal of time but to come in two hours later and be infected. It may be on services but it could absolutely be through airborne transmission as well because of that indoor setting.”

SIX NEW CASES RECORDED

At least one of those cases is understood to be a positive case from Victoria who travelled into NSW.

It brings the state’s active caseload to 67 and the current outbreak to 60, after more than 51,000 people were tested for the virus on Tuesday.

Authorities will front the media on Wednesday, expected to announce an extended lockdown.

It comes after revelations the new coronavirus super strain is jumping between strangers who brush past each other in shops.

Health officials have ­revealed that at least four cases in the present outbreak — which has grown to 54 cases — were infected with the Indian variant after “fleeting” contact.

“With previous variants we are more used to transmission occurring in the home, in the workplace, where people know each other … or those big social settings,” Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said on Tuesday.

“These are quite different, and for much more fleeting contact. This is a stranger-to-stranger transmission.

“What we are seeing now clearly is people who are brushing past each other in a small shop, they are going to a display home, they are looking at phones in a Telstra shop – they don’t know each other’s names and that is very different from where we have been.”

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said: “We can’t underestimate this challenge. If this strain is ­allowed to circulate unchecked, as it has in other countries, many people will die.”

Investigations say that quick transmission probably occurred at a Telstra store in South Melbourne, JMD Grocers in Epping, a Mickleham display home and at Craigieburn Central shopping centre.

Health authorities are urging those who have visited Pacific Epping shopping centre to get tested and isolate.

One infected man lives “around the corner” from Stratton Finance in Port Melbourne, where several employees tested positive, and had just “peripheral contact” with them in “coffee shops and units”.

Although more than 300 exposure sites have been connected to the Whittlesea outbreak, health authorities are particularly urging those who have visited Craigieburn Central, Bay St and/or Clarendon St in South Melbourne, Pacific Epping shopping centre or the shopping strip on Broadway in Reservoir in the past fortnight to get tested and isolate.

Mr Weimar said it was possible there had been rare cases of Covid-19 being spread though brief contact during Victoria’s second wave, however, the frequency of cases now being identified under the Indian variant outbreak caused increasing concern.

Potentially providing an answer as to how the virus spread from a Wollert man infected in South Australian hotel quarantine, Mr Weimar said there could have been “fleeting” contact with another person at a string of exposure sites.

Leading epidemiologists say the ability of the variant – ­officially labelled B. 1.617.1 – to transmit through more casual contact is a key reason it has devastated India to a much greater extent than previous strains in 2020.

University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely said it was plausible the Indian variant was transmitting through minimal contact, which would create a fundamental shift in understanding of the virus, similar to aerosol transmission.

“Just look at what happened in India. It ripped through,” Dr Blakely said.

“The fleeting transmission is plausible and probably actually happening, and we have a virus now that is that much more infectious. Casual contact last year could have resulted in transmission, but it is an increased possibility now.”

While Victoria’s improved computer systems were helping contact tracers identify such instances, which may not have been the case in 2020, Dr Blakely said movement restrictions became particularly ­important in limiting untraceable fleeting contacts.

“These fleeting transmissions probably mean the lockdown has made a difference,” he said. “This lockdown is helping enormously to drive this to ground quicker.”

SHOPPING CENTRE SHUTS TO AID CONTACT TRACERS

The Health Department has reportedly told Craigieburn Central to close temporarily to give the department time to complete contact tracing.

The complex’s management posted an announcement to social media on Tuesday morning after two Covid cases visited the shopping centre.

These visits — on May 23 between 10am and 1.30pm and May 26 between 9am and 11.45am, and 7pm and 9.05pm — were added to the department’s exposure site list last night.

They are classed as Tier 2 meaning anyone who was there, unless they visited one of the Tier 1 stores, needs to isolate, get tested and stay isolated until they receive a negative result.

But it wasn’t until this morning that Craigieburn Central announced they would close on the Health Department’s advice.

“We’ve been advised that we’ll be able to reopen after the Department of Health has assessed further Covid-test results,” they wrote.

The shopping centre will also undergo a deep clean.

Craigieburn Central is not the first shopping centre visited by a confirmed case, but not all shopping centres visited by a case have had to shut their doors.

Highpoint Shopping Centre was listed as an exposure site last week and received the same Tier 2 classification.

But, while individual stores visited by the confirmed case were deemed Tier 1 and shut, the shopping centre itself was allowed to remain open.

VICTORIA’S SNAP LOCKDOWN TO BE EXTENDED

Victoria’s fourth lockdown will be extended, with tough restrictions to remain in place until at least early next week.

The shutdown extension will be announced on Wednesday, with remote learning and prohibitions on leaving home except for five reasons to continue.

The length of the extension was being debated at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday night, but the lockdown is expected to remain in force until at least early next week amid fears over a more infectious super strain.

Read the full story here.

MULTIPLE EXPOSURE SITES IN ANGLESEA

A Melbourne resident who has tested positive for coronavirus visited multiple sites in Anglesea last week.

The Anglesea Golf Club Bistro has been listed as a Tier 1 exposure site.

Barwon Health says it is working closely with the Victorian Department of Health to test, trace and isolate the contacts of a newly-identified positive case.

The person was asymptomatic at the time of their visit to Anglesea from May 25 to 27. Barwon Health said investigations are still proceeding but the person has provided initial information about exposure sites.

Barwon Health will be establishing a pop-up testing site in the area.

Read the full story here.

ANOTHER PRISON IN LOCKDOWN

A second maximum-security prison has been plunged into lockdown over COVID-19 exposure fears.

Hundreds of prisoners were locked inside their cells at Melbourne Assessment Prison on Wednesday after a staff member visited the nearby Spencer St Coles — a Tier 1 exposure site.

The senior prison officer worked at the prison on Tuesday and has been ordered to go get tested.

An inside source said many other prison workers have also been sent home to be tested.

The Coles supermarket is located within metres of the prison, Victoria Police Centre and West Melbourne police station.

“Most staff grab lunch there on their way to work,” the prison source said.

Hundreds of prisoners at the Metropolitan Remand Centre were put into lockdown on Monday after a staff member visited a Tier 1 site.

Melbourne Assessment Prison has been locked down. Picture: Ian Currie

VIRUS ALERT FOR REGIONAL VICTORIA

A virus alert has been issued for regional Victoria after a Covid-positive Victorian returning from NSW visited a slew of sites before returning to Melbourne.

The case visited a number of venues in NSW including Jervis Bay, Goulburn, Hyams Beach, and Vincentia while potentially infectious on May 23 and 24, before returning to Victoria.

The three exposure sites in regional Victoria are BP outlets in Wallan, Euroa and Glenrowan on May 25.

The case reported an onset of symptoms on May 25 and was tested.

Anyone who attended BP Euroa at 29 Tarcombe St between 5-6pm on May 24 must get tested and isolate for 14 days.

Anyone who attended the BP Truckstop Southbound Carriageway, Hume Freeway between 4-4.30pm and BP Truckstop, 1050 Hume Freeway, Wallan between 6.45-7.15pm must get tested and isolate until returning a negative result.

The case also attended Coles Spencer Street Outlet on 201 Spencer St, Docklands, between 12-1pm on 30 May. That site is also a Tier 1 exposure site, meaning anyone who attended during that time must get tested and isolate for 14 days.

Anyone who lives in the Jervis Bay, or has visited the New South Wales’ south-coast town since 22 May, is asked to be especially vigilant for the onset of symptoms

Victorian health authorities say they are working closely with NSW Health to test, trace and isolate the contacts of a newly-identified positive case.

Read the full story here.

NO NEW CASES IN AGED CARE A ‘RELIEF’

No new Covid-19 cases have emerged in Melbourne’s “very concerning” aged-care outbreak, but health officials warn the risk is far from over as two more facilities were plunged into precautionary lockdown on Tuesday night.

The Menarock Life Aged Care facility in Heathmont shut down after an employee, who worked at the site on Monday, was identified as a household contact of a confirmed case.

Residential manager Nellie Wang told staff in an email: “I understand how stressful it can be, but I assure you we are doing everything possible to minimise any effect on our close-knit community.”

It comes after Jewish Care Victoria instigated a precautionary lockdown on Gary Smorgon House in Caulfield after a staff member worked at another facility that had a confirmed case.

No staff or elders at the ­facility had been identified to have the virus, chief executive Bill Appleby said.

Arcare Maidstone Aged Care has no recorded any further cases after a 99-year-old resident tested positive on Monday. Picture: David Crosling

Just three new cases of coronavirus were identified on Tuesday, with the six infections revealed on Monday bringing the total number of infections in the current cluster to 54.

Genomic sequencing has confirmed the first positive aged-care case – a worker from the Arcare Maidstone facility, who later infected her son, a colleague and a 99-year-old resident – was directly linked to the outbreak.

Health Minister Martin Foley said there had been no further positive cases after testing 146 people associated with the Maidstone facility.

All 135 staff and residents at the BlueCross Western Gardens facility in Sunshine also returned negative tests, after the site was locked down following confirmation that an employee, who caught the virus at Arcare, had worked onsite.

A resident at Arcare Maidstone Aged Care in Melbourne's west is attended to by a staff member. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

“Of course these sites ­remain under strict infection and protection control measures,” Mr Foley said.

“This is a significant and very concerning outbreak.

“It doesn’t take much for this highly infectious variant of concern to pop up in really risky settings. There is every prospect things might get worse before they get better.”

Covid-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said the overwhelming negative test results came as a “huge ­relief”, but added: “You’re only one positive test result away from having to go down a rabbit hole, so there’s more work to do.”

The latest scare has prompted the aged-care watchdog to carry out infection control spot checks on ­at-risk homes.

Aged Care Quality and Safety commissioner Janet Anderson told the Herald Sun the commission was collaborating with the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre to support telephone-based contacts with all aged services in the Greater Melbourne area.

VACCINATION BLITZ KICKS OFF

Victorians have again turned out in huge numbers to get their vaccine, as the state government’s five-day blitz for aged care and disability workers begins.

But according to workers who got their shot today, there’s been confusion on the ground about the exact details of the new express lane system.

Aged care worker Nauzer Bananji, who had just received his second dose at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, said he was “extremely happy” to be fully vaccinated.

“I’ll be able to be more relaxed at home and at work,” he said.

Aged care worker Nauzer Bananji was vaccinated at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre as part of the blitz. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Disability worker Louise Fumberger said the vaccination process was “quite smooth and easy”. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

But he said the express lane, which was meant to allow aged care and residential disability workers to skip the queue, didn’t seem to work as intended.

“It was not that organised actually,” he said.

“They asked us to wait for 20 minutes and allowed people without appointments to get in before us, so I’m not sure how it worked.”

Disability support worker Louise Fumberger had a similar experience and said some staff didn’t seem aware about Tuesday’s announcement.

“There was a bit of confusion,” she said.

People queue to be vaccinated at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

She said staff did great work performing a tough job but there was “a bit of communication issues”.

“Initially I was told no disability workers (for the express queue) it’s only aged care workers,” she said.

“But then I asked someone else and they said it was fine.”

Overall she was just happy to have received the vaccine.

“It was fine, it was really quite smooth and easy to get the vaccine itself,” she said.

“To be honest I should have got it a couple of weeks ago.

“But I didn’t want to jump the queue necessarily, as I’m only working with people with a disability two days a week in a classroom.”

Meanwhile, the line at Jeff’s Shed spilt outside, stretching more than 100m as Victorians continue to turn up in record numbers for their jab.

Dozens of walk-ins — who were not eligible for the express lane and had not made a booking — queued outside.

An official walked down the line, telling them it would be a three-hour wait before their turn.

Scott Symon, who had made a booking, said the “painful bit” of getting the jab was “getting through to the hotline”.

“My wife rang 90 times in one day and on the 93rd call she got through.

“It will be nice when they can do the online booking.”

Originally published as Covid Victoria: Melbourne lockdown extended another week, 6 new cases