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Victorian exposure sites revealed after Melbourne man tests positive to COVID-19

Grant McArthur, Suzan Delibasic, Mitch Clarke and Olivia JenkinsHerald Sun

Topics

Genomic sequencing has confirmed a Melbourne man caught coronavirus in hotel quarantine in South Australia.

The Department of Health revealed late on Wednesday that 28 patrons and staff who attended the Curry Vault CBD exposure site have been identified as primary close contacts, and 16 negative test results have so far been returned.

A further 17 people who attended the Pact Altona North exposure site were identified as primary close contacts, with 11 negative test results returned.

Eight people who attended the Indiagate Epping exposure site have also been identified as primary close contacts. Five of those have so far been returned.

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Another 28 people who attended the Woolworths Epping exposure site have been identified as contacts, with nine negative test results so far been returned.

FEARS FOOTY FANS EXPOSED TO VIRUS

Hundreds of footy fans have been urged to get tested and immediately isolate, as fears grow they may have been exposed to the virus.

The strict direction comes as the Health Department listed a Craigieburn-bound train from Flinders Street as a Tier-2 exposure site.

The exposure site times coincided with the end of the blockbuster clash between Richmond and Geelong on Friday May 7.

The AFL has been brought in to help track people who were leaving the game at this time, and may have caught the same train with the infected man.

Health Minister Martin Foley confirmed the government was also in the process of scouring through CCTV footage from Metro Trains to determine how many people shared a carriage with the man.

COVID Exposure Sites
Camera IconThe COVID-positive man dined at the Curry Vault Indian Restaurant and Bar. David Caird Credit: News Corp Australia

He said it wasn’t yet known how many commuters were on the train at the time, but believed there could have been “hundreds” of people on board.

People who were on the 10.20pm service from Flinders Street to Craigieburn — in any carriage, and alighting and department at any station — should get tested and immediately isolate until returning a negative result.

Anyone who travelled around this time, but is unsure about the service they caught, is urged to also get tested.

It comes as the Health Department confirmed no new local cases of COVID-19 were detected in Victoria on Tuesday.

One interstate case, a man from Wollert who’s positive test sparked the latest health scare.

More than 20,000 people got tested and 8146 vaccines were administrated in the past 24 hours.

It comes as authorities revealed the restaurant wasn’t actively enforcing QR code check ins.

“The challenges at that site … frankly the QR code, whilst it was in place, wasn’t widely taken up by all the patrons,” he said.

“This is a wake up call to both operators and patrons to step up and use the services.

“This is a reminder that the quality and the speed of the public health response is directly linked to the record keeping that operators and customers use.”

Mr Foley said DHHS was able to contact everyone “instantly” who used the QR code to check in at the Curry Vault, but the state government was working with banks to track people via credit card transactions used at the Curry Vault.

“Our teams are working through QR codes, financial transactions, the takeaway transactions of that facility, just to make sure that we run down anyone that might have been associated with that facility,” he said.

“We’re working with the banks and the operator of the T1 site to just compare his data and his records with the financial transactions.

“We do have the data, even if it did take some time, be it through the delivery sources or credit card transactions to track down everyone who used that venue,” he said.

NED-3786 Melbourne Covid Map

He urged everyone to ensure they check in at venues across Melbourne.

“It slows down the response when people haven’t taken that opportunity,” he said.

Businesses who flout QR code check-in rules could face fines of up to $10,000.

Mr Foley said 17 primary close contacts linked to the PACT retail site — where the infected person spent the most time — were currently being tested.

DHHS has also sent messages to passengers who were on Jetstar flight JQ771 on May 4, asking them to come forward for testing.

While Mr Foley said he didn’t think the Jetstar flight was a place of acquisition, passengers should get tested as a precaution.

“We think the likelihood of flight being acquisition site is highly improbable,” he said.

A further 396,000 text messages have been sent to people living near exposure sites.

He said testing had been “ramped up” in the northern and western suburbs.

“You can do you bit by getting tested. If you are eligible for a vaccine, get vaccinated,” he said.

Cars line up in Epping following the latest COVID case in Melbourne.
Camera IconCars line up in Epping for COVID testing on Wednesday morning following the case in Wollert. Credit: Herald Sun

“Victoria is doing what it can to ensure everyone is safe from the COVID virus and one of the most important things Victorians can do with the opportunity to get vaccinated is to take it.”

The Craigieburn train exposure site times coincided with the end of the Richmond and Geelong AFL match on Friday, May 7, with the AFL asked to help track people who attended the game.

Hundreds of people are believed to have been on the train at the time and are urged to get tested.

Mr Foley said results of the genomic sequencing could be available later today.

LONG QUEUES AT TESTING CENTRES AMID LATEST COVID SCARE

Wait times at COVID testing sites in Melbourne’s north have blown out to more than an hour after Northern Health temporarily suspended testing.

The estimated waiting time at Northern Health had stretched beyond 80 minutes.

A state government site co-ordinator at Epping’s Memorial Hall told the Herald Sun wait times at the community building had already spiked as a result.

She said testing sites across the Epping area had been dealing with an influx of residents waiting to get tested after Tuesday’s alert.

She encouraged residents to drive to other nearby sites, such as Childs Rd, until Northern Health reopened.

Cars continued to queue behind 30 vehicles already snaking through the hall’s car park, with traffic controls stationed at entry and exit points to the hall.

Authorities have not changed Victoria’s COVID restrictions, with the relaxed rules introduced on April 9 still in place.

Masks are compulsory in taxis, ride shares, on public transport, flights and while visiting an airport, hospital or care facility.

Hundreds of Victorians have been ordered to isolate after the man returned a positive test in Melbourne.

Train passengers were on Tuesday night also ordered into isolation, after the Health Department revealed the infected man from Wollert in Melbourne’s north travelled on public transport.

Authorities were scrambling to determine whether commuters may have been exposed to the virus last week.

Anyone who caught the 5.28pm Craigieburn to Southern Cross service on Friday, May 7, or the 10.20pm Flinders Street to Craigieburn service on the same night, must get tested and isolate immediately.

Both services have been deemed a Tier 2 exposure site by the Health Department.

“If you were on this service – in any carriage, and alighting and departing at any station – follow the health advice,” a statement reads.

Long queues were forming in the northern suburbs on Wednesday morning as residents scrambled to get tested for the virus.

Covid Testing
Camera IconLong queues formed at the testing site in Childs Rd, Epping, on Wednesday. David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia

Cars waiting in line at a testing site at 4Cyte Pathology in Epping formed a growing queue down Childs Rd.

Lalor resident Maria, 43, who decided to get tested to protect her sick and elderly father, said she had been waiting in line “for a while”.

“I should have come yesterday,” she said.

“I was going to come anyway but the alerts for these areas prompted me to come sooner.”

Maria said she had some COVID-like symptoms and wanted to rule out coronavirus.

A traffic control worker co-ordinating cars at the small drive-through site told the Herald Sun it was “so busy”.

“Our staff are working all over the city to co-ordinate these centres,” he said.

“People are co-operating but it is a lot.”

As about 40 cars built up on the road and inside the testing site, Epping local Murat Ates, 40, said he was prepared to wait in line to take precautions for his young family.

Covid Testing
Camera IconMurat Ates waiting in the line to get a COVID test. David Crosling Credit: News Corp Australia

Mr Ates said health authorities’ alert for the Epping area on Tuesday prompted him to be tested because he had experienced flu-like symptoms.

“The whole area should just be careful and get tested, that’s why I’m here,” he said.

The locals’ concerns come after the Health Department on Tuesday warned hundreds of Epping, Altona North and CBD residents to get tested.

Flinders Street, Southern Cross and Craigieburn stations have all been deemed Tier 3 exposure sites, meaning anyone who was at any of these stations on May 7 must monitor for COVID symptoms.

States and territories have been quick to hit Victorian travellers with new requirements after recording the shock new case.

Alerts were also issued on ­Tuesday for exposure sites in Melbourne’s CBD, Epping and Altona North between ­Thursday and Saturday last week. Health investigators believe the man, aged in his 30s, was infected while in hotel ­quarantine at The Playford Hotel.

A patient in an adjacent hotel room on May 4 tested positive to COVID-19 — the same day the man was released from his 14 days of isolation and flew to Melbourne.

He went home to Wollert in the northern suburbs but began feeling unwell on May 8. He took a coronavirus test on Monday and returned a positive result on Tuesday.

Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton said it was unlikely the man was infectious during his first two days in Victoria.

Exposure Sites
Camera IconTIC Group in Altona North is an exposure site linked to a new COVID-19 positive case in Melbourne. Mark Stewart Credit: News Corp Australia
Exposure Sites
Camera IconIndiagate Spices and Groceries was named as an exposure site. Jake Nowakowski. Credit: News Corp Australia

Passengers on his May 4 flight do not have to isolate.

“The flight is unlikely to be something to chase up. The fourth is not a day that we expect him to be infectious,” Prof Sutton said.

“But, with variants of concern and the evolution of the virus all the time, we have to be alive to the possibility.”

Genomic testing is expected to confirm the source of the man’s infection within 48 hours. He flew from coronavirus-ravaged India, via the Maldives and Singapore, before landing in Adelaide.

But South Australian chief health officer Nicola Spurrier said the man tested negative to COVID-19 on days one, five and 13 of his quarantine.

Although health authorities were working on the presumption the virus may have been passed within Victoria, Prof Sutton said negative tests from the man’s three relatives were an “encouraging sign”.

“It is an early encouraging sign that the household contacts have tested negative, on the basis that he has been home with them and symptomatic from the 8th (of May), and probably infectious from the 6th,’’ he said.

Four Tier 1 exposure sites were announced, and people who had been there in the specified period must be tested and isolate immediately.

Melbourne CBD business Citadel Health was cleared to reopen Tuesday afternoon after the negative test by a relative of the man, who visited the Collins St premises.

Curry Vault Indian Restaurant and Bar owner Kailash Sharma, whose city eatery was named a tier-1 exposure site, said he was “devastated”.

COVID-positive man's Melbourne movements

Mr Sharma said his business had lost more than $100,000 last year.

“We are closed for a deep clean until 10pm tonight and all affected staff have self-isolated,” he said on Tuesday.

“It’s very concerning, it’s such a terrible feeling when innocent people are caught up in this.”

Prof Sutton said the latest case served as a reminder to renew safe practices and continue using QR codes.

He warned vaccines would not slow the spread of local COVID-19 outbreaks until 60-70 per cent of the population was vaccinated, meaning measures such as lockdowns remained a defence for future clusters.

“The government has had months to prepare for this sort of scenario,” opposition health spokeswoman Georgie Crozier said. “It’s critical that we have contact tracing in place otherwise the entire state will be at risk of yet another lockdown.”

Victoria had gone 73 days without a locally acquired case.

Travellers arriving in NSW from Melbourne will now need to complete a declaration form confirming they have not attended a public exposure site.