By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Premier Daniel Andrews welcomed “good, positive early signs” as hundreds queue for Covid-19 tests in the South East.
An urgent call for testing was sparked by a 26-year-old Noble Park man working in tennis hotel quarantine and a CFA volunteer testing positive on 3 February.
A list of at least 14 high-exposure sites visited by the man – including Keysborough, Springvale and Noble Park – has been compiled.
People who have visited the sites during the high-risk times have been urged to immediately isolate, get Covid tested and remain isolated for 14 days.
On 4 February, Mr Andrews said two of the man’s family household contacts had since tested negative.
Nineteen of 20 identified close primary contacts had been contacted and were isolating, he said.
Another positive was that wastewater samples in the South East on 2 February had tested clear, Mr Andrews said.
However, Mr Andrews said the strain of the contracted virus as well as the exact source of transmission was yet to be confirmed.
He didn’t rule out the “hyper-infectious” “mutant” UK strain.
Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria (CQV) had concluded the infected worker had appropriately worn PPE and not breached protocols, Mr Andrews said.
He was regarded as a “model employee” who had given a detailed account of where he had been since his last shift on 29 January.
“The working theory and assumption is he got it in hotel quarantine despite not breaching or doing anything wrong.
“At the moment we have one case. We’re taking an abundance of caution because we don’t get a second chance.”
The ‘resident support worker’ had been stationed on a floor at the Grand Hyatt hotel where six infected tennis people had stayed.
He’d tested negative at the end of his last shift on 29 January and later came down with symptoms.
About 520 tennis players, officials and support staff staying at the Grand Hyatt were being tested and isolated today (4 February).
The worker is being isolated in a health hotel. About 600 Grand Hyatt work colleagues are being isolated and tested as close contacts.
Mr Andrews welcomed the “many, many hundreds” of people queuing for Covid-19 testing that morning as “critically important”.
The turnout resulted in delays of up to three hours at Springers Leisure Centre in Keysborough and Monash Health testing centre in Cleeland Street, Dandenong.
A new testing centre was expected to open in Noble Park that morning.
Victoria’s Covid-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar advised people to visit the Department of Health’s website to find testing stations with shorter waits.
The Government has also announced the immediate reintroduction of mask-wearing in all indoor settings and a 15-visitor limit in households and a pause in the 75 per cent return-to-work cap.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said testing showed the man carried a “high viral load”.
He said there would be a policy of Covid-testing hotel quarantine staff on days off.
The latest Tier 1 exposure sites are listed at www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/case-locations-and-outbreaks-covid-19
Covid testing site details are at www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/where-get-tested-covid-19
