Victoria exposure sites list grows

On 15th Feb, three Melbourne hospital psychiatric wards have been locked down and more than 100 staff have been told to quarantine, as authorities treat a worker with “unclear” coronavirus results as a positive case.

The infection has been recorded as Victoria’s only locally acquired coronavirus case, with a further positive detected in hotel quarantine.

The two cases came from 25,144 test results processed on Sunday a the state continued its snap “circuit-breaker” coronavirus lockdown.

The Department of Health confirmed the new infection was a case that was under investigation on Sunday — the mother of a three-year-old child linked to the growing Holiday Inn outbreak.

The three-year-old and a woman from another family were confirmed to have acquired the virus yesterday after attending a private function venue in Coburg in Melbourne’s north on February 6.

The child’s mother, who authorities said was asymptomatic, had been tested four times over February 13 and 14 and returned both negative and positive results.

Premier Daniel Andrews on 15th morning said her result was still “unclear” but public health officials had “taken the most conservative approach and have deemed her a positive case”.

Her close contacts are now being isolated as she is treated as a positive infection.

She had worked at psychiatric wards at The Alfred Hospital, the Northern Hospital in Epping and Broadmeadows Hospital. All the wards have been locked down while staff are isolating and being tested.

There have been about 150 primary close contacts identified across the three centres — the majority are staff, while a small number are patients.

The number of close contacts linked to the outbreak has grown to more than 1,100 on the 15th morning.

It comes as authorities urge anyone who visited a growing number of exposure sites to get tested for COVID-19.

Three tram routes and the main fruit and vegetable section at the Queen Victoria Market were added to the list of exposure sites overnight.

Tram routes 11 and 58 have also been added to the list of sites, which is regularly updated by the Department of Health.

‘Well-placed’ but ‘too early’ to confirm lockdown’s end on Wednesday

The snap lockdown, which began at 11:59pm on Friday, is scheduled to last for five days but could until February 26 under the directions issued by the Chief Health Officer.

Directions are often issued for longer than their scheduled time so they can run until the end of the current state of emergency period.

The lockdown was prompted by fears the more virulent B117 variant of the virus, also known as the UK strain, was spreading much more quickly than previous strains.

Mr Andrews said some of the 17 cases now linked to the Holiday Inn cluster were not in the original “net” cast by authorities.

He said he was not in a position to confirm that the shutdown would definitely end at 11:59pm on Wednesday, but said the past three days had been “a promising start”.

“We will have more to say obviously with the passage of time and more results and as more things become known to us, but we are well-placed right now — but right now is too early to be definitive about Wednesday evening,” he said.

Business tallies cost of lockdown

Meanwhile, Victorian small businesses are counting their weekend losses after the snap lockdown hit them hard on Valentine’s Day.

Stephanie Rondos from the small, family run ‘In Full Bloom’ florist in South Melbourne said she would be lucky to break even on what should have been one of the busiest days of the year.

“Everything changed so quickly, we didn’t expect it, so we had ordered as we would have for a normal Valentine’s Day,” she said.

“Being a small family business, we have struggled throughout this pandemic, like so many other small businesses, so today would have been one of those days that would have brought us back on top, but it hasn’t been the case,” Ms Rondos said.

Mother’s Day is on May 9, and Victorians will undoubtedly be wishing the state’s latest hotel quarantine outbreak will be snuffed out long before then.