Two Melbourne childcare centres have been temporarily shut down after a child and worker at separate facilities tested positive to coronavirus in the past day.
The child and childcare worker are among 18 new cases of COVID-19 recorded overnight.
A third person who attended the Black Lives Matter rally on June 6 also tested positive to the virus, but Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos stressed it was unlikely they were infectious during the protest.
Protesters at the Black Lives Matter rally on June 6.Credit:Chris Hopkins
"The advice I have been given is that the person was not infectious at the protest," Ms Mikakos said. "They did attend the protest with a number of friends and those friends will also be tested as contact tracing occurs."
The Black Lives Matter attendee, who has returned a positive coronavirus test, also worked two shifts at the H&M clothing store in Northland Shopping Centre while potentially infectious. The retail store has also been temporarily closed for cleaning.
Six more returned travellers being kept in quarantine have also returned positive tests, while a further eight people have been detected through routine testing. The number of cases of community transmission has risen by three.
"Clearly, we do have community transmission in Victoria and I want to reiterate the message to Victorians to take this issue seriously," Ms Mikakos told reporters on Thursday.
"Many of these cases are people with very, very mild symptoms, but they’ve done the right thing and gone and been tested and that is how we will manage the spread of the virus."
The Learning Sanctuary Pakenham closed its doors on Wednesday and will undergo deep cleaning after it emerged a a staff member had tested positive.
The Guardian Childcare and Education in South Yarra has also closed down for deep cleaning after it emerged a one-year-old child had been infected.
"The child attended the centre for one day during their infectious period," Ms Mikakos said.
Another new COVID-19 case has been linked to the Croydon Family Practice outbreak in Melbourne's east. The new case is a household contact of a previously diagnosed case bringing the cluster's total to five.
Ms Mikakos said she was alarmed by a rise in community transmission cases.
"They're the ones that we're most concerned about, because it means we don't know where the source of the acquisition is," she said. "Clearly, we do have community transmission in Victoria and I want to reiterate the message to Victorians to take this issue seriously."
The figures come a day after Victoria recorded 21 new cases, including 16 overseas travellers in quarantine.
Ms Mikakos said while Victoria was recording substantial numbers, she did not think the virus was getting out of control.
"Obviously, I worry about any new cases, whether it's one or whether it's 10, but we have been tracking quite well in Victoria in recent weeks," she said.
"We look for the trends rather than just looking at the numbers on any particular day."
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos. Credit:Eddie Jim
Victoria has been getting large numbers of returned travellers, particularly from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan where COVID-19 cases have recently soared.
NSW has also been getting large numbers of travellers, but has not been recording the same number of cases.
"We test people in mandatory hotel quarantine twice, both near the start of the quarantine and at the end," Ms Mikakos said.
"My advice is that NSW is only testing people at the end, just before they exit the hotel quarantine.
"So that means that it is potentially likely that we will detect more people because obviously, if you've been in hotel quarantine for 14 days and you're only tested at the end, you might have recovered by that point."
Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said a trend of rising community transmission cases of coronavirus could delay the timetable for easing COVID-19 restrictions.
"A day like today can make me nervous, there’s still an indication community transmission is around in Victoria," Professor Brett Sutton said on Wednesday afternoon.
From Monday, capacity limits are due to be further increased for social events, ceremonies, community services, sport and exercise, cafes and restaurants.
Professor Sutton said that the state's plan to ease restrictions was being reviewed on a daily basis to ensure limits were not increased too early.
He said while new cases were expected, the rise in community infections was alarming and there was "still transmission out there that we haven't gotten on top of yet."
The new cases bring the Victorian total to 1780. There are currently 81 active cases of coronavirus across the state.
with AAP
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Melissa Cunningham is The Age's health reporter.
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2020-06-18 03:57:28Z
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