Staff conduct COVID-19 tests at a pop-up clinic at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina on Thursday. The school has been closed and all 2500 staff and students are isolating for 14 days.Credit:Wayne Taylor
The man from Maribyrnong,who works at a factory in Derrimut,visited people who had recently entered Victoria after spending two weeks in a NSW quarantine hotel. Those people from NSW are being tested and there is so far no evidence they were positive at any point.
The Premier urged workers to get tested and reminded casual workers they were entitled to a $450 payment from the government if they needed to miss a shift to do so.
He also justified locking down regional areas by saying wastewater tests in Wangaratta in Victoria’s north-east had indicated COVID-19 could be present in the community.
The list of exposure sites has exceeded 80 and health authorities will be working through the night to try to figure out how three of the new cases contracted the virus.
Nearly 2500 students and teachers at Al-Taqwa are isolating. A coronavirus testing site was set up on the school grounds on Thursday morning and anyone from the school who received a test will also be offered a Pfizer jab.
Health Minister Martin Foley said health authorities expect more than 10,000 people to become close contacts of cases in the new outbreak and will be required to isolate.
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More than 40 new exposure sites spanning Melbourne’s south-west to north-west were added to a growing list of high-risk venues on Thursday.
There are now 24 tier-one venues among the new sites listed on theVictorian government’s coronavirus exposure sites,which include a doctor’s office,pharmacy,cafes,supermarkets,a gym and an optometrist practice.
There were 27,279 tests processed while 17,229 doses of vaccine were administered at state hubs. With the addition of the two cases to be included in Friday’s figures,there are now 82 active cases across the state.
NSW reported 262 new local COVID-19 cases and five deaths on Thursday,the highest number of local cases recorded in the state in a 24-hour period.
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NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirmed three men in their 60s,one man in his 70s and a woman in her 80s had died.
“Unfortunately,four out of those five people were not vaccinated at all,” Ms Berejiklian said. “I cannot stress enough how it’s so important for everybody of all ages to come forward and get the vaccine,” she said.
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