Some Of The 10,000 Victorians That Have Refused COVID-19 Testing Are Claiming It’s A Conspiracy

With Melbourne now in the grips of a second wave of coronavirus, State Government officials have revealed that more than 10,000 people in hot spot areas have outright refused to be tested. And, in the case of at least some, conspiracy theories are being cited as the reason why.

State Health Minister Jenny Mikakos fronted media this morning alongside Premier Daniel Andrews to give updates on Victorian officials efforts into containing the resurgent spike in cases that has now seen entire suburbs plunged back into strict Stage 3 lockdowns.

Mikakos confirmed 164,000 people have been tested across Victoria in the past week alone, and through that testing officials have uncovered 449 confirmed cases of coronavirus.

Worryingly though, Mikakos also confirmed that over 10,000 people had refused testing during the suburban blitz period, and some of them cited conspiracy theories as the reason why.

“We have had more than 10,000 people who have refused to be tested,” Mikakos stated. “That might be for a range of reasons, including that they may have already been tested in a different location, we are analysing that data to see exactly why people are refusing, but it is concerning that some people believe that coronavirus is a conspiracy or that it won’t impact on them.”

Mikakos confirmed that “the postcodes with the highest number of new cases in the past week have been 3064, 3047, 3031 and 3060.” Worryingly, the 3031 postcode – which includes the inner northern suburbs of Flemington and Kensington – is not currently under lockdown restrictions. The two suburbs border Ascot Vale, which is currently subject to Stage 3 lockdowns.

“What I want to stress here is that coronavirus is a very contagious virus. It can go through your family very quickly, it can affect your neighbours, your loved ones, and your entire community. So for those individuals in those communities who have not yet been tested, we are urging them to get tested as quickly as possible,” Mikakos said.

Victoria registered another 66 cases of coronavirus over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of active cases in the state up to 442.

More Stuff From PEDESTRIAN.TV