By Cam Lucadou-Wells
No new community transmission of Covid-19 has been detected in the two days since a Noble Park man working in hotel quarantine tested positive, the State Government has announced.
Sixteen of 17 close contacts of the 26-year-old who worked at an Australian Open quarantine hotel have tested negative, Premier Daniel Andrews said on 5 February.
The one remaining contact’s results were pending.
The close contacts remain in isolation for 14 days – the incubation period of the virus.
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the man was infected with the UK strain of the virus.
Though still unsure of how the infection occurred, Professor Sutton was confident it was caught from one of four tennis-hotel residents with the same strain, rather than from the community.
He reiterated that the infected worker had not apparently breached PPE protocols.
The state’s Covid-19 testing commander Jeroen Weimar said 743 workplace contacts had been contacted by employers for testing.
Meanwhile 299 people have been so far identified at the 14 high-exposure sites during the same time as the infected man. Their details had been registered on QR Code sign-ins.
The sites include retailers and a club in Noble Park, Keysborough and Springvale.
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.
Meanwhile, more than 28,500 people flocked for Covid testing on 4 February. Of those, 22,500 test results had returned negative, with a further 6000 swabs to be analysed.
Five new drive-through Covid-19 testing sites have opened in the South East to cope with demand.
They include Jan Wilson Community Centre in Noble Park North and Monash University, Clayton.
Walk-in testing at Monash Health in Cleeland Street, Dandenong and drive-throughs at Carroll Lane, Dandenong and Springers Leisure Centre, Keysborough will open for extended hours.
On 4 February, wait times of up to three hours were reported at South East testing stations. Some were forced to briefly close due to exceeding capacity.
Mr 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.
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
