Hundreds of Victorians have been asked to isolate and get tested after a COVID-positive Melbourne man visited a slew of CBD sites.
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Hundreds of Victorians have been ordered to isolate after a man returned from hotel quarantine in Adelaide and tested positive for coronavirus.
Train passengers were on Tuesday night also ordered into isolation, after the Department of Health revealed the infected man travelled on public transport.
Authorities were scrambling to determine whether commuters may have been exposed to the virus last week.
Anyone who caught the 5.28pm Craigieburn to Southern Cross service on Friday May 7, or the 10.20pm Flinders Street to Craigieburn service on the same night, must get tested and isolate immediately.
Both services have been deemed a Tier 2 exposure site by the Department of Health.
“If you were on this service – in any carriage, and alighting and departing at any station – follow the health advice,” a statement read.
Flinders Street station, Southern Cross station and Craigieburn station have all been deemed Tier 3 exposure sites, meaning anyone who was at any of these stations on May 7 must monitor for COVID symptoms.
Alerts were also issued on Tuesday for exposure sites in Melbourne’s CBD, Epping and Altona North between Thursday and Saturday last week. Health investigators believe the man, aged in his 30s, was infected while in hotel quarantine at The Playford Hotel.
A patient in an adjacent hotel room on May 4 tested positive to COVID-19 — the same day the man was released from his 14 days of isolation and flew to Melbourne.
He went home to Wollert in the northern suburbs but began feeling unwell on May 8. He took a coronavirus test on Monday and returned a positive result on Tuesday.
Victorian chief health officer Brett Suttons said it was unlikely the man was infectious during his first two days in Victoria.
Passengers on his May 4 flight do not have to isolate.
“The flight is unlikely to be something to chase up. The fourth is not a day that we expect him to be infectious,” Prof Sutton said.
“But, with variants of concern and the evolution of the virus all the time, we have to be alive to the possibility.
Genomic testing is expected to confirm the source of the man’s infection within 48 hours. He flew from coronavirus-ravaged India, via the Maldives and Singapore, before landing in Adelaide.
But South Australian chief health officer Nicola Spurrier said the man tested negative to COVID-19 on days one, five and 13 of his quarantine.
Although health authorities were working on the presumption the virus may have been passed within Victoria, Prof Sutton said negative tests from the man’s three relatives were a positive sign.
“It is an early encouraging sign that the household contacts have tested negative, on the basis that he has been home with them and symptomatic from the 8th (of May), and probably infectious from the 6th,’’ he said.
Four tier-1 exposure sites were announced, and people who had been there in the specified period must be tested and isolate immediately. There were two tier-2 exposure sites.
Melbourne CBD business Citadel Health was cleared to reopen Tuesday afternoon after the negative test by a relative of the man, who visited the Collins Street premises.
Curry Vault Indian Restaurant and Bar owner Kailash Sharma, whose city eatery was named a tier-1 exposure site, said he was “devastated”.
Mr Sharma said his business had lost more than $100,000 last year’.
“We are closed for a deep clean until 10pm tonight and all affected staff have self-isolated,” he said on Tuesday. “It’s very concerning, it’s such a terrible feeling when innocent people are caught up in this.”
Prof Sutton said the latest case served as a reminder to renew safe practices and continue using QR codes.
He warned vaccines would not slow the spread of local COVID-19 outbreaks until 60-70 per cent of the population was vaccinated, meaning measures such as lockdowns remained a defence for future clusters.
“The government has had months to prepare for this sort of scenario,” opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said. “It’s critical that we have contact tracing in place otherwise the entire state will be at risk of yet another lockdown.”
Victoria had gone 73 days without a locally acquired case.
Travellers arriving in NSW from Melbourne will now need to complete a declaration form confirming they have not attended a public exposure site.
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2021-05-11 13:10:23Z
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