By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Hallam has been removed as a declared hotspot by health authorities, but infection cases continue to rise in Casey and Grater Dandenong.
In the week ending 5 July, Casey infection numbers grew from 100 to 120. Active cases swelled from 15 to 19.
In Greater Dandenong, cases rose from 26 to 28. Active cases dropped from five to three.
Victoria suffered an alarming 508 new infections in the seven days. Of the 543 active cases, 401 were acquired through “unknown transmission”.
To the west and north-west of Melbourne, 12 “hotspot” postcodes have been put into stage-3 lockdown until 29 July.
Hallam ceased to be declared a hotspot after 30 June.
On 5 July, the Department of Health and Human Services announced two further infections – a household contact and a security guard – in the Stamford Plaza Hotel cluster linked to a Hallam family.
A security contractor was infected at the hotel on 17 June, spreading the virus to their Hallam family as well as a health care worker at Monash Health.
The cluster has swelled to 42, now the state’s second largest cluster behind the 111 infections linked to Cedar Meats abbatoir.
Australian Defence Force officers were called to help with queues at the drive-through Covid-19 testing station at Carroll Lane, Dandenong from 29 June.
Monash Health tweeted that there were delays in Covid-19 test results.
“It usually takes between one and five days to get your results after being tested, however with so many tests coming in every day, sometimes it takes a little longer to confirm the results.”
There were reports that queues at testing centres were easing in the past week.
