Victoria has recorded three new cases of COVID-19, including a teenage girl who has returned home to Melbourne from Sydney, having caught the virus in the northern beaches.
The other two new cases are international arrivals.
“The young person travelled home from Sydney with their parent,” Health Minister Martin Foley said.
“They have isolated when they returned to Victoria and as a result of the awareness of the situation in Sydney, the young person has sought testing.”
All close contacts of the family have been interviewed and the Department of Health is following up with any secondary close contacts and rapid response testing, he said.
Fifteen people, including a family of five, have been transferred to Victoria’s hotel quarantine from NSW as of last night.
“That is 17 people who will be spending their Christmas and their New Year, not as they planned, but in hotel quarantining circumstances,” said Mr Foley.
“So, my message to anyone trying to enter Victoria from New South Wales is – don’t. You won’t get in, and if you do, you’ll be spending your time at Christmas and New Year in hotel quarantining.”
According to the minister, none of the 4000 people who returned from the high risk zones from NSW over the weekend have yet to test positive.
Jeroen Weimar, commander of Victoria’s COVID testing program, said the positive case identified in Melbourne’s west linked to the NSW cluster highlighted why anyone who has returned from Sydney since December 11 needs to get tested immediately.
“If you have not yet been tested since your return from Sydney since December 11, we need you to go and get tested today,” he said.
Meanwhile, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is positive the cluster can be controlled with only eight positive community transmission cases identified out of more than 44,000 tests. Seven of those were linked to the Avalon cluster.
Finally, authorities have identified 300 people in Victoria who visited exposure locations in NSW, while there were 21,000 arrivals from red zones between 11 and 19 December.
“Three hundred people in Victoria are being tested, who are being isolated, who are working with our contact tracing and Health colleagues. They are being supported. We expect over the coming days, as more of those returning Victorians from yesterday get themselves tested and contact us, that that number will grow,” Victoria’s COVID testing program Jeroen Weimar said.
“Mainly by air, because obviously we have all the flight manifests. Everybody who arrived by air from Sydney Airport has been sent repeated text messages to encourage them to go and get tested,” he said.