Victoria’s virus infections spike for sixth day
The Stamford Plaza quarantine hotel was the centre of a coronavirus cluster in Melbourne. Photo: ABC
Victoria has recorded another day of concerning coronavirus infection numbers, with a further 13 cases reported on Friday.
Four of the new confirmed infections are in the cluster linked to the Stamford Plaza, a Melbourne hotel that is being used to house returned overseas travellers.
One is in hotel quarantine and the remainder were picked up through community testing.
State Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said one case had been reclassified, so Victoria’s total COVID-19 infections had risen by 12.
It is the sixth day of spiking virus infections in Victoria – with the state’s virus caseload growing by more than 80 since Sunday.
Ms Allan said health authorities were monitoring coronavirus data “on an hourly basis”.
However, she said there had been “no change of advice” and “no reconsideration” of restrictions easing on Monday.
“If that changes there will be a very rapid response to the Victorian community,” she said.
Cases reported this week are spread across Melbourne and its surrounds, and include a resident in a nursing home, childcare staff, school children and a third Black Lives Matter protester.
Much of the increase is also due to a surge in Australian citizens or permanent residents returning from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in recent week.
Earlier this week, Victoria’s chief health officer, Brett Sutton, said “a couple of hundred” overseas travellers arrived at Melbourne Airport each day – and it was up to 1000 on some days. They are a mixture of Victorians and people who live in other states.
“Wherever Australian, Victorian citizens and permanent residents are coming from, there’s greater coronavirus activity and so more of those who go into quarantine are becoming positive,” he said.
But the state has also had several of its own clusters, including a large outbreak at an abattoir in Melbourne’s west. An earlier group linked to another quarantine hotel, the Rydges on Swanston, accounted for at least 16 infections.
On Friday, Ms Allan said Victoria had tested nearly 15,000 people for the virus on Thursday. That brings its total tests to 635,897.
Elsewhere, NSW had seven new coronavirus cases on Friday. All were in people in hotel quarantine.
