Victoria records 57 new local COVID-19 cases as Melburnians mark 200 days in lockdown

Victoria has recorded its highest daily coronavirus case total for this current outbreak, as Melburnians mark their 200th day in lockdown and police have begun to issue infringements to the attendees of an engagement party that turned into a transmission event.

The state recorded 57 new locally acquired COVID-19 cases on Thursday from more than 49,600 tests.

People queue for testing at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda, in Melbourne’s inner south.Credit:Eddie Jim

Many of the cases stem from people getting their mandated tests on day 13 of their quarantine period, including people linked to Al-Taqwa college. Of Thursday’s cases, 44 were in isolation for their entire infectious period.

Authorities are investigating the acquisition source for three cases, the remaining 54 have been linked to current outbreaks.

Acting Chief Health Officer Ben Cowie said his team had analysed the vaccination status of the 529 active cases in the state between July 12 and August 18.

Professor Cowie said 80 of those people had been eligible for vaccination but had not had any; 45 people had had their first dose and 23 people had been fully vaccinated. Of the 14 people in hospital today, five were not eligible for vaccinations and nine people were eligible but had not been vaccinated.

“None were either partially or completely vaccinated,” Professor Cowie said. “So we’ve reflected previously that both the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines do prevent infection, and they do prevent transmission to others. If you do happen to be infected, they reduce your potential to infect others.

“But the really critical point here, both AstraZeneca, and Pfizer vaccine [provide] around 90 per cent protection against serious illness, against hospitalisation and against loss of life, and that’s for the Delta variant. So these vaccines are so critical, so please do make that appointment and go and get vaccinated as soon as you’re eligible.”

The analysis comes as Premier Daniel Andrews announced that two more drive-through vaccination clinics will be opened after the success of the Melton clinic, which opened at the Bunnings warehouse and has delivered 1200 vaccines.

The new sites include the Sandown Racecourse, which will open for booked appointments from Saturday, and the Ford factory in Broadmeadows, open for appointments from Monday.

Another site at the Eagle Stadium in Werribee has been proposed for both walk-up and drive-through vaccinations, while a pop-up vaccination centre has also opened in St Kilda at the Peanut Farm Reserve.

Case breakdown for Thursday

Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said the 44 cases who had been in quarantine for their entire infectious period included:

38 linked to Al-Taqwa College

3 linked to Glenroy West Primary School

One linked to Caroline Springs shopping centre CS Square

One linked to the Newport Football Club

One linked to the Newport community cluster

Ten cases were detected through contact tracing efforts and have been linked to known outbreaks, including:

One linked to a residential tower at 510 Lygon Street in Carlton who is a close contact of a positive case

Three linked to St Kilda community gatherings

Three who are various household contacts of positive cases authorities have identified recently - they are connected to existing outbreaks, but they’re not linked to each other

Three people connected to a pizza shop in Malvern East

Mr Weimar said the three mystery cases were in Glenroy, Ascot Vale and Doncaster.

Fines issued over engagement party

The figures come after health authorities expressed increasing concern about the virus spreading in St Kilda. The Department of Health has urged all residents of Glen Eira and Port Phillip to get tested for COVID-19, regardless of whether they have symptoms.

Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said police were working out how to interview all the people who were at an illegal engagement party in Melbourne’s south-east given they are in isolation, but infringements had been issued to the couple and the bride-to-be’s parents.

Mr Patton said the attendees of the party in Caulfield North had been “very cooperative” with police.

“That investigation is still ongoing [and] it’s obviously hampered, to a degree by the fact that they’re in isolation,” Mr Patton said.

“At this time, two of those [infringements] have been to the parents of the bride-to-be and two of those have been to the engaged couple as well.

“As I say these parties have been cooperative with us.”

The department also flagged on Thursday that two cases of legionnaires’ disease had been detected in the Cranbourne East area.

It warned symptoms of the disease are similar to COVID-19 - headache, fever, cough and muscle aches - and anyone experiencing them who had been in the area since the start of August should get tested for both conditions.

On Wednesday, Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said there were 15 unlinked coronavirus cases in the south-eastern suburbs in recent days.

He said the mystery cases were focused around Middle Park and Caulfield North, and they were all genomically linked, but the only other factor that linked them was geography.

“We have accountants, we have architects, we have a sex worker, we have members of the Orthodox Jewish community, and we have a pizza guy who worked in a pizza shop in Glen Eira,” Mr Weimar said.

“It is a very broad and disparate range of people.”

Authorities on Wednesday evening identified tram route 96 from St Kilda Station to Luna Park as a tier-2 exposure site, meaning anyone on it during specified timeframes has to get tested for COVID-19 and quarantine until they receive a negative test result.

Thursday’s high case total comes as Melburnians mark 200 days confined to their homes, although there is some conjecture about whether the milestone falls on Thursday or Friday.

Concerns for homeless community

Mr Weimar said on Wednesday that the COVID-positive sex worker and one of her acquaintances, who also tested positive, were homeless or transient.

Leaders in the sector say the state’s homeless hotel program is operating during lockdowns but with significantly fewer sites than in last year’s second lockdown.

Youth Projects chief executive Ben Vasiliou said there were concerns among sector leaders that Melbourne’s homeless community was at significant risk and that if more positive cases were returned on Thursday, increased support to quarantine them would be required.

“This is moving very, very quickly,” he said.

There are concerns, too, that no matter how hard Victoria locks down, driving transmission to zero and keeping it there might be impossible with cross-border seeding events seemingly inevitable.

NSW hit a daily high of 633 cases on Wednesday and Premier Gladys Berejiklian said her state had not “seen the worst of it”, with modelling suggesting it may hit 2200 cases a day if the current rate of infection does not decline.

Exposure site list swells to more than 550

There are more than 550 exposure sites now listed in Victoria.

Apart from the St Kilda tram route, health authorities also identified several more new tier-2 exposure sites late on Tuesday evening.

An apartment complex in Melbourne’s north-west and an IKEA in Springvale were declared tier-2 sites, according to the latest listings.

A number of supermarkets were also listed, including Woolworths in Ascot Vale, Newmarket Plaza and Woolworths in Kensington, Woolworths in Altona North and Woolworths in Dandenong.

Nearly 27,590 people received their vaccine doses in the past 24 hours in Victoria.

With Michael Fowler, Sumeyya Ilanbey, and Lucy Cormack

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Cassandra Morgan is a breaking news reporter at The Age.

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