13 new cases in abattoir virus outbreak
Sixty-two people associated with a coronavirus outbreak at Melbourne abattoir Cedar Meats have now tested positive for the virus.
SIXTY-two people associated with a Melbourne meat processing facility have now tested positive for coronavirus.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced this morning that 13 of the 14 new cases across the state today were associated with the Cedar Meats abattoir outbreak, taking the total in the cluster to 62.
At least 49 of these people are workers at the abattoir, which closed on Friday for thorough cleaning.
A staff member at a Footscray aged care facility has been confirmed as one of the close-contact cases.
Mr Andrews said he wasn’t aware that any of the cases had been hospitalised due to coronavirus.
“Their symptoms were very mild and their illness is very mild and it just makes the point anyone can have this virus and not know it, do the right thing and pass it on to someone else,” he said. “That is the challenge we face.”
It comes after a new timeline of the outbreak revealed the first case linked to the Cedar Meats worksite in Brooklyn was diagnosed on Friday, April 24, followed by another just over 24 hours later who had attended Sunshine Hospital prior to diagnosis or displaying symptoms.
The first Cedar Meats employee to test positive for coronavirus, but not directly linked with the worksite, was diagnosed on April 2. The Department of Health said the person had not been at Cedar Meats for four weeks, so the abattoir was not considered an exposure site.
The revelations of the outbreak timeline at Cedar Meats comes after the department and Government refused to reveal the identity of the abattoir and when the first person tested positive for the virus.
The initial “secrecy” surrounding the business’ identity was condemned by agriculture industry leaders.
Mr Andrews again defended the department’s response to the outbreak today, saying he was “confident that everything that can be done is being done”.
“This has been a model example, that’s what (Australian Chief Medical Officer Professor Brendan) Murphy called it; a model example for dealing with an outbreak,” he said.
“We should all be very very grateful to every member of the public health team for the massive effort.”
Yesterday, Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said he had concerns Commonwealth departmental personnel inspecting the abattoir could have moved between abattoirs and “potentially could have spread the virus”, and therefore was seeking information on when his department was notified about the positive cases.
Mr Littleproud told 3AW today that his office was not formally notified until Thursday, April 30.
“My department only found out about it through gossip on the 27th, 28th but we weren’t formally notified by Victoria Health, I’m advised late yesterday, until 30th April,” he said.
“We had two permanent meat inspectors there (at Cedar Meats) and two transient inspectors that were in there during March, April and in fact two of those transient inspectors then moved on to another processing plant.”
Mr Littleproud said the inspectors had tested negative to coronavirus but were in self-isolation.
He said he wasn’t looking for recriminations but “we just want to make sure we get a better protocol on this”.
When questioned about the concerns, Mr Andrews said “agencies are working closely together — state and federal.”
“The Commonwealth department are having a look what went on here and we are working closely with them,” he said.
“I suppose we’ll wait and see what comes out of that but I’m very confident that the contact tracing team … have done everything possible and done it to the highest standards.”
There have been 1454 cases of coronavirus across Victoria. 105 of those cases are active.
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