Melbourne to enter lockdown as Covid cluster grows to 26
Melbourne will be thrown into its fourth lockdown as new Covid cluster grows to 26 after infected reveller’s late-night bender – and the shutdown could last for at least seven days
- A Covid-positive case went out drinking at packed bars until 4am Saturday
- Victorian government held crisis talks on Wednesday about five-day shutdown
- There are also fears the virus may have jumped the border spread into NSW
- The cluster grew to 15 cases on Wednesday, before ballooning to 26 overnight
- There are 79 exposure sites across more than 30 Melbourne suburbs
Melbourne will enter a lockdown on Thursday after a Covid cluster grew to 26 cases overnight following an infected reveller’s late-night bender.
Health officials and senior government ministers held crisis meetings overnight, with more meetings held early on Thursday morning to decide the length of the lockdown – which will likely last seven days.
The number of cases linked to the Whittlesea cluster rose to 26, from 15 on Wednesday.
The state’s Health Department confirmed the new infections on Thursday ahead of a government press conference to discuss what happens next.
The number of test results received in the 24 hours to midnight was 40,411 and there were long queues again on Thursday at test sites across Melbourne.
The lockdown could apply to Greater Melbourne or be statewide.
As of Thursday morning, there were 79 exposure sites listed on the Health Department’s website, spread across more than 30 Melbourne suburbs and regional Bendigo, Cohuna and Red Hill.
Contact tracers are continuing to hunt a ‘missing link’ in the infection chain, with the virus genomically linked to a man who caught it in Adelaide hotel quarantine.
An announcement by Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino is expected to come at around 9am on Thursday, with Daniel Andrews still off work with a serious back injury.
A Covid-infected case last Saturday headed out for a mammoth late-night bender in Prahran, in Melbourne’s southeast, which ended up kicking on until 4am on Sunday – visiting three bars
Experts warned that if a single case appears that isn’t a household contact, as in someone infected at one of the bars or others venues, Victoria will ‘push the lockdown button’
One of the Chapel Street pubs the infected reveller visited was the trendy cocktail lounge Three Monkeys (pictured)
Contact tracers are continuing to hunt a ‘missing link’ in the infection chain, with the virus genomically linked to a man who caught it in Adelaide hotel quarantine
The infectious drinker partied at three different bars in Prahran, in the city’s southeast, on Saturday night – and ended up kicking on until 4am on Sunday in one of the venues known for packed crowds and a pumping dancefloor.
The pub-crawler, unknowingly infected with a highly contagious double mutant Indian strain of the virus, began the evening at a cocktail bar on Chapel Street called Three Monkeys.
They arrived at about 9.15pm and then wandered down the street to the famed Somewhere Bar – an establishment frequented by a sea of young, hip partygoers.
That Saturday the venue was packed as DJs blasted out tunes late into the night.
Three Monkeys also had a good turnout, raising fears the infected drinker may have sparked a super-spreader event.
‘It wasn’t crazy but it was solid,’ owner Antony Harvey told The Age of the crowd that night.
The infected case stayed at Somewhere Bar for a slue of drinks before heading back to Three Monkeys at about 1am.
The positive case then headed off towards Circus Bar – known for its raucous dance floor – on Commercial Road and kept the party going until 4am.
University of Melbourne epidemiologist Tony Blakely warned that it was almost inevitable that a lockdown would be called.
‘If even one case occurs among somebody who is not a known contact already, I think they will hit the lockdown button,’ he said.
The infected case stayed at Somewhere Bar for a slue of drinks before until about 1am (pictured)
The infected pub-crawler kept the party going until about 4am at the Circus Bar (pictured)
Patient zero for the latest Australian outbreak, who came to be known as the Wollert man, returned to South Australia from India on April 19, where he underwent 14 days in hotel quarantine at the Playford Hotel in Adelaide.
The man in his 30s tested negative to the virus three times during his stay and was discharged on May 4 before he travelled to his home in Wollert, in Melbourne’s north.
But a few days later he developed symptoms and genomic testing would later reveal he contracted the virus from another hotel quarantine guest who was staying in an adjacent room.
SA Health handed down the findings of a report on Wednesday that suggested the virus likely spread when doors of adjacent rooms were momentarily opened at the same time.
His infection has since been gnomically linked to the new shock cluster gripping Melbourne.
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino (pictured) says the next 24 hours will be critical to avoid another lockdown after the state recorded six more locally acquired Covid-19 cases
Healthcare workers are seen at work at a Covid-19 testing facility in Melbourne on Wednesday
But a definitive link between the Wollert man and the outbreak hasn’t been established as contact tracers scramble to find a potential ‘missing link’.
‘The only missing link is the link to the Wollert case from the South Australian hotel quarantine,’ Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said.
While authorities have ‘run down multiple generations of transmission’, Professor Sutton is concerned about the amount of time that positive cases have been out in the community.
‘There are potential exposures there that relate to some days ago that are yet to play out in new cases,’ he said.
The Victorian government already introduced a number of restrictions to try and stop the spread including mask mandates indoors and limits on gatherings.
Other states around Australia have also taken steps to stop the virus from spreading, re-introducing tough border restrictions that require incoming travellers to self-isolate and Melburnians banned from South Australia all together.
It’s understood officials are considering a five day circuit breaker, which could be extended if significant numbers of cases not directly linked to the current cluster emerge, The Herald Sun reported.
Contact tracers are continuing to hunt a ‘missing link’ in the infection chain, as policymakers and public health authorities held crisis talks on Wednesday night about whether a shut will be declared. Pictured: Masked pedestrians in Melbourne
Pictured: The Cohuna recreation reserve in Victoria where a sporting event was held between a Victorian and NSW team – and attended by a positive Covid-19 case
The fears Melbourne’s Covid-19 outbreak could already have spread interstate come after health authorities confirmed a virus carrier attended sporting fixtures involving a New South Wales team.
NSW Health said it is urgently contacting people who attended a Central Murray Football and Netball League game between the Victorian club Cohuna and the New South Wales-based team Tooleybuc-Manangatang on Saturday afternoon.
Anyone who attended the footy and netball games, which were held in Victoria but with many fans who travelled from NSW, should immediately get tested and self-isolate.
Victorian health authorities said the positive Covid-19 case attended the Cohuna Recreation Reserve and watching multiple netball games alongside other spectators.
The infected person also visited the canteen and used the public toilets at the venue.
Health authorities are urging anyone who was at the event between 12pm and 5pm to get tested urgently and isolate until they receive a negative result.
The South Australian hotel quarantine breach which has sparked a worrying Covid-19 outbreak in Melbourne is likely to have begun when the virus went from one open door to another (pictured, Melbourne health workers at a testing centre on Wednesday)
It’s understood Victorian officials are considering a five day circuit breaker, which could be extended if significant numbers of cases not directly linked to the current cluster emerge (pictured, Melbourne commuters)
