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A coronavirus cluster linked to a restaurant in southeast Melbourne has risen to 18 as Victorian authorities confirm the outbreak is “directly related” to New South Wales.
Photo: 123rf.com
Victoria recorded 10 locally acquired coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said Saturday morning.
The new cases were detected from 18,337 test results.
Of the 10 local cases, two were announced yesterday: two Victorians who were evaluated in New South Wales after traveling through Lakes Entrance. The cases are now handled by Victoria.
All the infections are linked to the Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant in Black Rock, known as the “Mentone-Mitcham group,” Health Minister Martin Foley said.
Foley said genomic sequencing tests had established that the Victoria outbreak cases were “directly related to the New South Wales cluster.”
DHHS Covid-19 Response Commander Jeroen Weimar said genomic sequencing showed that the 18 infections were all connected to the original Northern Beaches-Croydon group in New South Wales.
“Right now, all of these cases are linked,” Weimar said.
Weimar said there is now a “great spatial extension” from the exhibition sites in Victoria “all the way to Lakes Entrance and almost every point in between.”
The exhibition sites were listed in Melbourne, Lakes Entrance in Gippsland and Strathbogie, north of Melbourne, with one site in Camberwell likely to be added to the list today, he said.
Long lines formed at test sites in Melbourne and the state on Saturday morning, with some people reporting being turned away at 9:00 a.m.
Weimar suggested that people come to the test queues with plenty of water and “distraction materials,” as they are likely to face significant wait times.
Aircrew member and returned traveler test positive in hotel quarantine
Two other infections were recorded in hotel quarantine.
One was a traveler returning from mandatory quarantine and the other is a member of the aircrew, Foley said.
There are now 29 active confirmed cases in Victoria.
In response to the outbreak, masks are once again mandatory in the interior of Victoria, limits on people in gatherings have been lowered, and the state has closed its border to anyone who has been to New South Wales.
Long lines were seen at border checkpoints on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day as people rushed home before the cutoff.
Foley said the government “did not apologize for closing the border,” but acknowledged the disruption it had caused and planned to work through the bubble fixes in the coming days for those communities.
Airport arrivals who ‘eloped’ face a $ 19,000 fine
Two people who flew into Melbourne from Canberra on Friday and “escaped” from authorized officials at the airport were found in Goulburn, NSW, and could be fined $ 19,000 each, Foley said.
Victoria police called for the public’s help overnight to find the couple, saying they fled after authorized officers informed them they must isolate themselves for 14 days.
“They ran away, they disappeared in a vehicle and then they were heard from in Goulburn,” Foley said.
He said the couple would be fined at least $ 19,000, but could also face further action for violations of public health instructions.
“This is a very serious matter,” Foley said.
Weimar said 70 more people were placed in mandatory quarantine since yesterday. They were part of a group of people returning from New South Wales with incomplete or unclear permit information.
“Yesterday about 70 people showed up at the airport on a variety of flights with a variety of documentation,” he said.
“Of the 70 people who went into hotel quarantine, they could not establish that they had the necessary permits that would allow them to quarantine at home for 14 days.”
He said authorities would work with those 70 people to determine if they could safely quarantine themselves at home.
Seven new cases registered in NSW
New South Wales has registered seven new cases of community transmission of Covid-19.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian said four of them were from the family of an existing case and all but one could be linked to an already announced case.
The final case is still under investigation, he said.
She said nearly 32,000 people showed up for testing in the last 24 hours.
– ABC
