Victorian Chief Health Minister Brett Sutton warned the first man to test positive on Monday had a “high viral load” and was “likely quite infectious”.
“We have to ready ourselves for any other positives and when there are close contacts who do become positive, that raises the possibility that even casual contacts could become positive as well,” he said.
Anyone who visited Highpoint Shopping Centre last Thursday from 5.00-8.00pm – peak time for weekly late night shopping at the popular Maribyrnong site – must get tested and isolate until further notice, Mr Foley said.
Those who attended Bundoora’s Jump! swim school from 8.55-10.15am on Friday morning must get tested and isolate for 14 days.
Both Mr Sutton and Mr Foley ruled out further COVID-19 restrictions until health authorities had more information about the four cases’ movements, but said that Victorians needed to be more vigilant with mask wearing and checking into venues regardless.
It follows the Andrews government announcing a crackdown on mask compliance on public transport on Sunday night, after new data showed that just 52-55 per cent of commuters were wearing masks despite their mandatory use.
Professor Sutton said this was particularly important going into winter, when people “spend more time indoors and are in closer proximity”.
Other states have so far left their borders with Victorian open, with NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian saying on Monday it was “too early” to declare north-west Melbourne a hotspot.
Mr Foley said there was no evidence that the four new cases’ infections was linked to a health department bungle that saw the wrong Woolworths listed as an exposure site when the Adelaide traveller tested positive in early May.
In a mistake it has since blamed on an incorrectly labelled electronic transaction receipt, authorities named Epping Woolworths as an exposure site instead of its Epping North counterpart three kilometres away.
“There is, as yet, no indication that these individuals are linked to any exposure sites from the previous alert case,” Mr Foley said, but added that “investigations are ongoing”.
Thirteen people linked to Epping North Woolworths were tested over the weekend, with 10 returning negative swabs and a further three results still pending. None of the four new cases have required hospitalisation.
Thousands isolate as Victoria records four new local COVID-19 cases - The Australian Financial Review
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