A man in his 60s was identified as the fifth case in Melbourne northern suburbs, with Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton concerned the man may have been infectious since May 17.
New restrictions announced today come into force from 6pm, including gatherings of no more than five people in a private home, public gatherings limited to 30 and face masks indoors for those aged 12 years and older.
The new case is a close contact of the first infection announced yesterday.
“Potentially he has been symptomatic the longest,” Professor Sutton said of the latest case, confirming all five cases in cluster were infected with the Indian variant of the coronavirus.
Genomic sequencing for the Melbourne northern suburbs outbreak shows it is “closely linked” to the Wollert cluster from earlier this month, which originated in South Australia hotel quarantine, Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino said.
A number of restrictions are being introduced in metropolitan Melbourne to mitigate the risk of the outbreak growing out of control.
From 6pm today, private gatherings in homes will be limited to five people per day.
Public gatherings will be limited to 30 people and face masks will need to be worn indoors unless an exemption applies.
Schools and workplaces will remain open.
Victorians who live in Greater Melbourne and travel to regional Victoria can continue to do so, but the restrictions will travel with them.
Mr Merlino said the new restrictions were a necessary and “responsible step” in order for the state to stamp out the growing outbreak.
“This is about giving our contact tracers the time they need to track this matter down and get on top of it,” he said.
Professor Sutton said the changing situation was a solid reminder that “millions” of Victorians who had not been vaccinated should go and get their jabs.
“We have enough supply,” he said.
Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne’s west has been identified as a Tier One exposure site, meaning hundreds who attended the centre during the specified times must get tested and isolate until further notice.
Health Minister Martin Foley said the exposure site would likely scale back to a different tier, once specific stores have been identified through CCTV.
As of last night, there were 35 primary close contacts linked to the Bundoora swim school exposure site who are being tested as a “matter of urgency”.
Public rush shuts down testing sites
Nearly 15,000 test results were received in the past 24 hours, according to the Department of Health.
Testing clinics have been inundated this morning, with the Melbourne Showgrounds site forced to shut about 8am after reaching full capacity within five minutes of opening.
The site was aiming to reopen at 10am.
Long queues have also swamped testing centres across the city, with wait times blowing out to two hours at Victoria University and Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital.
At least seven sites were forced to close yesterday following news the state’s 86-day streak of no new local cases had come to an end.
Mr Merlino confirmed 26 testing sites will be operating on extended hours in Melbourne today to process the rush.
The four cases detected yesterday are four family members spread across three households in the City of Whittlesea in Melbourne’s north.
The first case is a man in his 30s who has been infectious in the community since last Tuesday and is believed to have a high viral load.
He displayed symptoms of coronavirus on May 20 and got tested two days later on May 23.
The other cases include his family member close contacts including a man in his 70s, a woman in her 70s and a preschool-aged child.
There are fears thousands of customers and staff at Highpoint Shopping Centre, in the city’s west, could have been exposed to the virus.
One of the infected family members visited the shopping centre on May 20 between 5pm-8pm, with anyone at the centre during those times urged to get tested.
The person visited a number of stores and the Department of Health is due to release further shops as exposure sites today.
This content first appear on 9news