Victorian authorities chasing passengers after flight attendant tests positive, AFL team isolating - The Age

Victorian health authorities are scrambling to contact 128 passengers who were on a Virgin flight to Melbourne on Friday with a potentially infectious flight attendant.

North Melbourne Football Club staff and players are isolating while they await coronavirus test results after travelling through the airport on Saturday, and three mine workers are isolating in Victoria because they were at the same Northern Territory site as another positive COVID-19 case.

Passengers at Melbourne Airport Terminal 3. A Virgin Australia flight attendant who has since tested positive had been on various flights around Australia.Credit:Paul Jeffers

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton will meet his state and federal counterparts on Sunday afternoon to discuss border arrangements with the rest of the country, given the growing COVID-19 numbers in NSW, Queensland and Northern Territory.

COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said he was concerned about more coronavirus cases seeping into Victoria and flagged there could be further changes to border restrictions.

“If you’re a Victorian in NSW and you need to be back in our state, then we would encourage you to do so promptly,” Mr Weimar said.

“And we would certainly encourage any Victorian, please do not travel to NSW at this time. It is an unpredictable situation and we want to ensure we protect our state and the wider Australian east coast.

Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander, Jeroen Weimar, has cautioned Victorians against travelling to NSW. Credit:Jason South

“We will certainly update the [Chief Health Officer] release later this afternoon and if we have anything else to say we’ll come out and say it.”

The cabin crew member who tested positive to COVID-19 on Saturday evening flew into Melbourne on Friday on flight VA334 from Brisbane.

She stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn Express in Southbank. MrWeimar stressed she abided by strict COVID-19 protocols during her time there.

“A closed crew shuttle took her to the hotel, she stayed in the hotel all night, then [took the] crew shuttle back into the [Melbourne Airport],” he said during Sunday’s coronavirus update.

“We’ve obviously listed the exposure site as a coffee shop at the airport. Beyond that, we’re reasonably comfortable that based on our current understanding, we’ve got control of this.”

Mr Weimar said authorities had identified 43 aircrew staff as primary close contacts of the woman.

Victoria’s Health Department has also listed all public areas of Melbourne Airport Terminal 2 as exposure sites between 6.30am and 7.30am on Saturday.

Terminal 3 is listed as being an exposure site between 5.20pm and 6.50pm on Friday and again on Saturday between 8am and 9am.

NSW Health on Saturday night issued a public health alert for the flights, saying all NSW passengers were being considered close contacts and must call its COVID-19 line (1800 943 553), get tested, and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.

In a statement, the airline said the affected crew member was Sydney-based, and a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case from a known cluster in Sydney.

Virgin said the flight attendant was in isolation and the company was contacting all staff deemed close contacts. All would be asked to get tested and isolate.

Mr Weimar said it was his understanding that the flight attendant was very early in her infectious period, but nonetheless, authorities were taking a cautious approach.

The flight attendant’s positive test result affected the following flights.

Friday, June 25:

• VA939 Departed Sydney at 11.51am; arrived Brisbane at 1.25pm
• VA334 Departed Brisbane at 2.59pm; arrived Melbourne at 5.16pm

Saturday, June 26:

• VA827 Departed Melbourne at 9am; arrived Sydney at 10.14am
• VA517 Departed Sydney at 11.14am; arrived Gold Coast at 12.40pm
• VA524 Departed Gold Coast at 1.26pm; arrived Sydney 2.47pm

North Melbourne staff and players were sent into home isolation and told to get tested on Sunday after being at the airport on Saturday on the way to Hobart for their match against Gold Coast.

The Roos were at Melbourne Airport between 7am and 8am on Saturday, and now must await a negative a result.

Victoria records no new local cases

Victoria recorded no new local cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to midnight on Saturday, despite the COVID-19 scare with the flight attendant having tested positive.

Three new cases were recorded in hotel quarantine, while nearly 20,700 test results were processed in the past 24 hours and nearly 15,000 people received their vaccine doses.

However, Mr Weimar revealed on Sunday that Victorian health authorities had so far identified three miners in the state who worked at the same Northern Territory site as another positive COVID-19 case.

He said the three were isolating and being supported to get tested.

They were among 900 people across Australia who worked at the Granites gold mine in the Northern Territory while the man was potentially infectious.

“We expect that number to grow as we work with other jurisdictions to identify where those other 900 mine workers have travelled to,” Mr Weimar said. “We understand they may have travelled fairly widely across Australia.

“If you were at the Granites gold mine between [June 19 and 25], please, stay where you are, isolate, get tested and contact us, so we can support you during this isolation period.”

The Granites mine is about 540 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.

Mr Weimar said authorities had tested 49 residents of an Oakleigh apartment complex, where a man in his 60s who arrived from Sydney had tested positive to COVID-19. All returned negative results.

Of the 131 passengers who were on a Jetstar flight with the man, 121 have so far returned negative results. Authorities identified 61 people who visited the Sandringham dry cleaner where the man worked and 53 tested negative. A further 36 primary close contacts have been identified on public transport routes the COVID-positive man had taken.

The Health Department has cleared almost every primary close contact and active coronavirus case in the Kappa and Delta outbreaks.

“We’ve had literally over 10,000 primary close contacts associated with those outbreaks, who’ve done the right thing and managed to allow us to get these outbreaks under control,” Mr Weimar said.

“It’s been a fantastic effort all around ... it’s an important experience not only for Victoria but for all of Australia as to how you have to act swiftly and aggressively to run these outbreaks to ground with the full support of the community.”

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2021-06-27 03:29:21Z
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