A childcare centre is closed and up to 100 people in isolation after a young girl connected to Melbourne's northern suburbs COVID-19 outbreak tested positive to the virus.
The young child is among three new cases reported in Victoria on Thursday, but Premier Daniel Andrews said it may turn out to be a one-case day as the two other positive tests may be instances of viral shedding from old infections.
One of the two cases which are under investigation tested positive for the virus back in August, while the other has previously been a close contact of a positive case. An expert review panel is meeting on Thursday to review the two cases.
The young child who is a confirmed case attended the Good Start Early Learning Centre on Plenty Road in Bundoora on October 20 and 22.
The little girls' mother tested positive on October 25. The child was quarantined with her family from that day onwards. She initially tested negative on October 26, but two days later tested positive.
A dozen close contacts at the childcare centre have been identified, including eight children and four staff. So far six children and three staff have tested negative.
More than 90 secondary close contacts will be asked to get tested and self-isolate immediately, the head of the state's contact tracing team, Professor Euan Wallace, said.
The childcare centre is closed for deep cleaning and will reopen when the Department of Health and Human Services' coronavirus outbreak team is satisfied with the level of cleaning.
Both Professor Wallance and Mr Andrews insisted the child's family had done the right thing. "I want to make the point that everybody involved in this has not exactly the right thing," Mr Andrews said.
Victoria now has 76 active cases of coronavirus, down from 80 on Wednesday.
No further COVID-related deaths have been reported as Melbourne emerges from its months-long lockdown.
But an additional mystery case has also been identified, taking the tally of infections with no known source to four for the fortnight to October 28. Mr Andrews said he did not have further details about the mystery case.
The 14-day rolling statewide case average now stands at 2.4.
Mr Andrews praised more than 24,000 Victorians who got tested for coronavirus on Wednesday, adding that 99 per cent of test results were returned within 24 hours.
It comes after America's top infectious disease Dr Anthony Fauci told a Melbourne audience on Wednesday night he predicts the world will have a coronavirus vaccine "in the next few months".
But Dr Fauci said people are unlikely to be able to go about their normal lives until at least the end of next year.
"I think it will be easily by the end of 2021 and perhaps into the next year before we start having some semblance of normality," Dr Fauci said via video link.
"If normal means you can get people in a theatre without worrying about what we call congregate-setting super infections, if we can get restaurants to open almost at full capacity."
But the director of the United States' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said stubborn anti-vaxxer beliefs, political division and the self-interested meddling of politicians would all make the job of immunising the world against COVID-19 tougher.
Foot traffic through some Melbourne CBD streets was back to 80 per cent of pre-COVID levels on Wednesday as shops, cafes and restaurants were allowed to reopen.
But one of Victoria’s leading economists urged caution, saying the uncertainty around the prospects for both the state and national economies was unprecedented, despite the cautiously upbeat assessment this week from the Reserve Bank of Australia.
"The recovery of the Victorian economy depends on the degree to which those industries have stayed afloat," RMIT economist Leonora Risse said.
"It is my expectation that we will see a recovery but that recovery will plateau, it won’t go back to the full force pre-pandemic levels because we don’t have that international [visitor] market."
The Age was unable to obtain any real-time figures on consumer spending for Melbourne’s first day of freedom but data on pedestrian movements in the CBD on Wednesday points to better times ahead for city retailers, after months of keeping their doors shut.
At lunchtime on Wednesday, 1916 people were logged walking through Bourke Street Mall, almost five times more than the average foot traffic at that time over the past month, with above average foot traffic also recorded outside Flinders Street and Southern Cross stations, at Melbourne Central and on Lygon Street.
with Craig Butt and Noel Towell
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Anna is an education reporter at The Age.
Paul is a reporter for The Age.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiiAFodHRwczovL3d3dy50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL3ZpY3RvcmlhLXJlY29yZHMtdGhyZWUtbmV3LWNvdmlkLWNhc2VzLWFuZC1hZGRpdGlvbmFsLW15c3RlcnktaW5mZWN0aW9uLTIwMjAxMDI5LXA1NjltNS5odG1s0gGIAWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLnRoZWFnZS5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdmljdG9yaWEvdmljdG9yaWEtcmVjb3Jkcy10aHJlZS1uZXctY292aWQtY2FzZXMtYW5kLWFkZGl0aW9uYWwtbXlzdGVyeS1pbmZlY3Rpb24tMjAyMDEwMjktcDU2OW01Lmh0bWw?oc=5
2020-10-29 01:22:00Z
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