Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen said the state was experiencing a “second peak” of coronavirus infections, but noted cases were not yet growing exponentially.
“There will be … a second bump or a second peak, so that is what this is," Dr van Diemen said, adding that she was "very concerned" about the 41 additional cases.
“I wouldn’t say we’re exponential yet.
“We know cases and outbreaks will continue to occur … [It’s] not where we want to be.”
Dr van Diemen confirmed almost all the cases recorded in the past 24 hours emerged from known virus hotspots in the northern and western suburbs. She said there had been no noticeable increase in cases in other parts of Melbourne.
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Three of the new cases are linked to a North Melbourne family cluster, two are related to the Albanvale Primary School outbreak and one is linked to the Stamford Plaza hotel. Another case is a worker from the Coles distribution facility in Laverton – the third infected worker form the site – who is also a member of the Keilor Downs family cluster.
Emergency alerts will begin to be sent on Saturday to people in Keilor Downs and Broadmeadows to inform them of testing in their areas.
The rise in cases comes as the Victorian government seeks legal advice to determine whether it can force returned travellers in hotel quarantine to be tested for COVID-19 before they rejoin the community, after it emerged on Friday that 30 per cent of those who leave the hotels have refused testing.
More than 18,500 people have now spent a mandatory two weeks in a room at one of the quarantine hotels, and outbreaks at Rydges Hotel and the Stamford Plaza have led to clusters that have infected 34 people including security guards, hotel staff and people with whom they have had contact.
Dr van Diemen said no returned travellers who refused testing had infected others in the community once they left hotels. Despite this, she said the government was seeking legal advice to make testing compulsory.
Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer, Dr Annaliese van Diemen announced the 41 new cases on Saturday.Credit:Luis Enrique Ascui
In recent weeks, she said, the proportion of people in hotels who had been tested was significantly greater than 70 per cent.
"We’re not seeing cases in our community that have … leaked out of hotel quarantine because they haven’t been tested, we’re just not seeing them," Dr van Diemen said, adding that Victoria "led the way" in developing the hotel quarantine system at a national level.
"I wouldn’t have implemented the program if we didn’t think it was appropriate."
She said there were "many reasons" why travellers had refused testing, and said it was the government’s intention to minimise the amount of time people are detained.
Extending the quarantine period in hotels for those who refused testing would not be desirable, Dr van Diemen said.
With AAP
correction
An earlier version of this story stated that eight of the new coronavirus cases came from hotel quarantine. That number was incorrect. There is one new case from hotel quarantine.
Paul is a reporter for The Age.
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2020-06-27 06:32:17Z
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