Victoria recorded no new locally-acquired cases of COVID-19 overnight but one of the eight already discovered is in the regional town of Leongatha, in South Gippsland, the state's testing chief has confirmed.
Another three people in hotel quarantine have been diagnosed with the virus, in the last day, testing commander Jeroen Weimar said.
Friday's daily COVID-19 update from the Health Department will formalise the five cases announced on Thursday, but no new cases have been detected since then. The eight cases have been recorded in Victoria since Wednesday.
Mr Weimar said three cases returned travellers had been diagnosed with COVID-19 in hotel quarantine.
There are now about 200 people in isolation because they are linked to positive cases or their close contacts. Authorities are using a "third-ring" approach where positive cases, their close contacts and those people's contacts are all asked to isolate.
The first three cases in the Victorian outbreak are all linked to a transmission event that likely occurred at the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant at Black Rock on December 21.
The government suspects a traveller from Sydney was the likely source of the infection. The person was being tested on Thursday. All five cases announced after the first three are all linked to the initial cases.
COVID-19 viral fragments have been picked up in a wastewater sample from Lakes Entrance, about 300km east of Melbourne.
The Victorian Health Department said the traces were detected on Tuesday and anyone in the Lakes Entrance area with symptoms should get tested for COVID-19.
Leongatha is about 200km west of Lakes Entrance.
The nearest testing facility for Lakes Entrance locals is the Bairnsdale Regional Health Service which is open from 9am-5pm today and over the weekend.
There will be an increase in wastewater samples taken from Lakes Entrance in the coming days to verify the finding.
University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely predicted the Victorian government would soon tighten public health to suppress the growth of cases in the state.
Professor Blakely said he did not believe a hard lockdown would be required, but more modest measures would assist contact tracers to thwart the Victorian outbreak.
He said the government would likely ask the public to self-regulate their travel.
"I think we're heading back into a tighter restrictions arrangement," he said on ABC Radio Melbourne.
"Once people relocate back home by Monday ... we'll start seeing some restrictions on movement."
Professor Blakely said the fresh outbreak was the first big test of the state's contact tracing capacity since the second wave of cases ended.
He said the system was "hugely better" than the previous paper-based system.
Get our Coronavirus Update newsletter
Stay across the news you need to know related to the pandemic. Sent Monday and Thursday. Sign up here.
Paul is a Victorian political reporter for The Age.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMifGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnRoZWFnZS5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvdmljdG9yaWEvY292aWQtY29uZmlybWVkLWluLXJlZ2lvbmFsLXZpY3RvcmlhLW5vLW5ldy1jb21tdW5pdHktY2FzZXMtMjAyMTAxMDEtcDU2cjVlLmh0bWzSAXxodHRwczovL2FtcC50aGVhZ2UuY29tLmF1L25hdGlvbmFsL3ZpY3RvcmlhL2NvdmlkLWNvbmZpcm1lZC1pbi1yZWdpb25hbC12aWN0b3JpYS1uby1uZXctY29tbXVuaXR5LWNhc2VzLTIwMjEwMTAxLXA1NnI1ZS5odG1s?oc=5
2020-12-31 22:43:00Z
52781276419016
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "COVID confirmed in regional Victoria, no new community cases - The Age"
Post a Comment