Covid Victoria: 9 new cases as Melbourne’s coronavirus cluster expands

Eleven new coronavirus infections have been recorded in the last 24 hours, including two elderly care infections reported on Sunday afternoon.

Melbourne’s entry into the 11th day of lockdown has led to a surprising surge in infections. It is not yet known how the remaining nine cases are related.

On Sunday, more than 24,000 test results arrived and health officials vaccinated 17,719 times.

The danger posed by the outbreak of the new coronavirus infection that has pushed Victoria to block has almost disappeared, but concerns about new Delta variants have kept the limits.

Two weeks after the first case was identified, close contacts of the first 1900 Whittlesea clusters were released from quarantine on Sunday. The epidemic is likely to be contained now.

However, as the mystery continues as to how the newer West Melbourne cluster involving the more infectious Delta subspecies began, health officials lifted the blockade of Melbourne before the Thursday night deadline. Insisted that it was unlikely.

Four new local infections, Covid-19, including two confirmed at the Arcare Maidstone Geriatric Care Facility, increased the state’s active community infection to 72.

A 79-year-old resident who lived near two other residents previously diagnosed with Covid-19 was one of the latest cases. The other was an agency-registered nurse who last worked at the Elderly Care Center on Saturday.

Both have been vaccinated.

Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer, Allen Chen, has conducted extensive testing and the fact that three weeks have passed since the first Whittlesea infection may not detect a chain of infections. He said it meant that the concern that there was was alleviated.

However, Professor Chen said the “upstream” risk of another West Melbourne cluster, which was revealed to involve a variant of the deltacoronavirus on Thursday, is a major concern that hinders relaxation of restrictions. ..

“It’s safe to say that an unknown source is more comfortable if the infection doesn’t occur after a week or three over time,” said Professor Cheng.

“If you don’t know where the case is, there’s always baseline level concern … but at this stage, I think you’re more concerned about the origin of the Delta variant.

“Who may have transmitted the infection, especially in these cases where it is not possible to identify the family returning from Jervis Bay, and therefore other infections associated with it may exist. I’m worried if I have sex. “

Health investigators continue to look for answers on how the Delta subspecies invaded the community, looking at the results of gene sequencing from laboratories across the country, hoping for even partial agreement. I am.

After another infection was identified overnight on Saturday, outbreaks in West Melbourne increased to 10 cases infected with the Delta subspecies. The case was a teacher at North Melbourne Elementary School, where 98% of students tested from Tier 1 exposure sites returned negative results, but remained quarantined.

The number of new infections in Whittlesea was 29, but increased to 30 in the Port Melbourne cluster, including those who had already been quarantined.

Unexpected detection of wastewater has prompted residents of Aberfeldie, Essendon, Essendon West, Flemington, Footscray, Kensington, Maribianon, Moonee Ponds, Parkville, and Travancor to be tested, even if their symptoms are mild. It was.

“This new detection is interesting because there are no confirmed cases in the area,” said Professor Chen.

According to Arcare chief Colin Singh, the latest Covid-positive Maidstone residents have previously been vaccinated twice with Pfizer, but nurses have been vaccinated only the first time.

Both were asymptomatic but are in the hospital.

“Tomorrow, more tests will be done, showing that they will be done every two days while managing this pandemic,” he said.

New travel voucher round

Ski resort operators will receive additional handouts to help them survive the Melbourne lockdown in a new round of travel tickets to start sightseeing when restrictions are finally relaxed.

Up to 80,000 tourist vouchers, worth $ 200 each, will be released to assist tourism providers struggling in the fourth round of attracting local holidays.

Due to the ongoing lockdown in Melbourne, the release date or period for using travel vouchers has not yet been announced, and the release will include 10,000 new vouchers previously assigned but not billed and 70,000. Includes voucher.

The $ 16 million worth of vouchers is a key element of the latest $ 32.2 million tourism assistance package announced by Acting Prime Minister James Merlino on Sunday.

An additional $ 11.8 million will be spent paying businesses $ 4,500 to replenish all Victorian tourism operators and receive a total of $ 7,000 in support during the latest snap lockdown.

Companies in the Alps will be given additional support to offset the effects of the long weekend of Queen’s Birthday, which is traditionally the beginning of the Australian ski season.

Mountaineering businesses can receive up to $ 15,000 in grants, and off-mountain snow-related businesses can receive $ 5,000 in a $ 4.4 million package.

Felicia Mariani, CEO of the Victorian Tourism Industry Council, praised the package for acknowledging the “catastrophic” impact of long-term lockdowns over the weekend, but listed a roadmap for reopening. Listed at the top of, he said more was needed.

“Overall, I think it was a welcome announcement today,” Mariani said.

“The $ 4.4 million to the Alpine Support Program is very urgent for our ski industry, and the ski industry is suffering from losing the start of another important season.

“But what we really need is a quick roadmap for resumption, which sets a powerful course for returning to the pre-lockdown business environment.”

Overseas students hit snags

Plans to bring international students to Melbourne have been difficult after the latest epidemic of the new coronavirus infection (Covid-19) in Victoria.

Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge said the government is still cooperating with the state on a proposal to allow 120 people to arrive abroad a week since late last month.

“Given the current new cases in Victoria and the significant number of cases around the world, we need to be very careful about individual quarantine programs,” said Tudge.

“Authorities are working to ensure that the proposal has been approved by the Chief Medical Officer of Victoria and meets the prerequisites we have presented, such as not allowing returning Australians to enter the quarantine site. I’m out.

“We also need to ensure that Australian students are well on their way back to campus.”

Based on the Australian Open system, this proposal will take arrivals, including students and employees of major events, to the new quarantine hotel.