Victorians have woken up to the second day of a snap lockdown with three new coronavirus cases recorded, two of them locally acquired and one in hotel quarantine.
The state reverted to stage 4 restrictions on Friday midnight, with the 5-day lockdown aimed to act as a ‘circuit breaker’ curbing the spread of the highly contagious UK variant of the virus responsible for the Holiday Inn outbreak.
As per the latest known data, there are currently 966 primary contacts of patients identified linked to the hotel quarantine outbreak which stands at 14 cases.
The Victorian Health Department reported a total of 21,475 test results were received on Saturday, with authorities urging anyone with even the mildest symptoms to come forward and get tested.
Another four new exposure sites were announced, with anyone having attended the sites within the below timeframes required to undergo testing and 14-day isolation.
- Monday 8 February
Elite Swimming, Pascoe Vale, 5pm-6pm - Tuesday 9 February
Woolworths Broadmeadows Central, Broadmeadows, 12.15pm-12.30pm - Ferguson Plarre Bakehouses, Broadmeadows, 12.30pm-12.45pm
- Wednesday 10 February
Oak Park Sports and Aquatic Centre, Pascoe Vale, 4pm-7.30pm
Meanwhile, debate has been reignited around Victoria’s hotel quarantine system management this week, following a call for urgent action needed in infection control, voiced by the Australian Medical Association President Omar Khorshid.
Dr Khorshid said the UK variant had “blown open cracks” in the hotel quarantine system, with the virus having now escaped “hotel quarantine arrangements in most states”.
He said Victoria’s worse situation comparatively could be attributed to bad luck, but potentially also to differences in the quarantine program management.
“It is curious and interesting that Victoria has had the worst breaches so far,” Dr Khorshid said.
“That may be bad luck but it could also be differences in the way that the quarantine program is being managed by the new body, COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, and the Department of Health.”
