Victorian health officials have confirmed four new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, and have placed a major shopping centre on the list of exposure sites as a result.
The new cases are all known to each other, and are close family members spread across two households. It is unclear at this stage where the four cases originated from, however Victorian health minister Martin Foley stated there is the possibility that they are related to the recent positive case in Wollert, involving a man who tested positive for coronavirus after leaving hotel quarantine in Adelaide.
Health officials believe one of the new cases may have been experiencing symptoms from May 20th onwards. That individual was tested on May 23rd. A second person known to the first was also tested and returned an asymptomatic positive result.
In addition to the new positive COVID cases, Victorian officials have also placed two new sites on the COVID exposure list with the highest Tier 1 recommendations. One of those two being the massive Highpoint Shopping Centre.
DHHS advice asserts that anyone who visited Highpoint – any part of the entire shopping centre – on Thursday May 20th between 5pm and 8pm, needs to immediately isolate, get tested, and remain in self-quarantine “until further notice.”
The other exposure site is the Jump! Swim School in Bundoora, with an exposure window spanning 8:55am to 10:15am on Friday May 21st. Anyone who visited that site in that window must get tested and self-isolate for 14 days from the date of exposure. Not just until further notice.
The Highpoint addition alone potentially affects thousands of people, with the shopping centre representing one of the largest and busiest indoor shopping centres in the Greater Melbourne area.
Fronting media a short time ago, Foley stated “I have always made the case we should never be complacent. We have barely gone a fortnight period across Australia without some flag. We will always be at risk until we have high vaccination coverage. And so those critical messages that the minister is reinforcing, wearing a mask when you cannot physically distance and where it is mandatory in Victoria.”
More on this story as it develops.
