New COVID-19 variant 'of significant concern' emerges in Victoria as state records another four local cases

Victoria has recorded four new virus cases, with authorities confirming the detection of a new COVID-19 variant in the state's outbreak.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton speaks to the media during a press conference in Melbourne on Monday, 31 May.

Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton speaks to the media during a press conference in Melbourne on Monday, 31 May. Source: AAP

A new COVID-19 variant has emerged in Victoria's outbreak, putting health authorities on alert.

Genomic sequencing from two cases in a West Melbourne family has revealed they are infected with the Delta variant, which Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says has become the predominant variant in India. 

"It is a variant of significant concern," Prof Sutton said.

It remains unclear how that family, which also travelled to Jervis Bay in NSW, contracted the virus.

Three of Friday's four new cases are linked to the family, taking that West Melbourne cluster to seven.

The new cases are two parents and a child, with another child in the same family returning an indeterminate test result, which Prof Sutton thinks will also become a positive case.
"It is a concern that it is not linked to other cases, but we are chasing down all those primary case contacts for that family and looking into where it might have been acquired," Prof Sutton said.

"It has not been linked to any sequence cases across Australia from hotel quarantine or anywhere else that it is not linked in Victoria or any other jurisdiction."

No one has been hospitalised yet with the new Delta variant.

The other new case is a primary close contact of another confirmed case.

The four new cases take Victoria's current outbreak to more than 60.
It comes after Thursday's confirmation that two earlier cases in the outbreak had been ruled false positives.

Health authorities initially thought a woman caught COVID-19 at a Metricon display home at Mickleham, and believed a man similarly picked up the virus at Brighton Beach Hotel.
An expert medical panel found that was not the case.

The two suspected "fleeting" transmission cases of coronavirus that are now false positives had been part of the justification for Melbourne's lockdown extension.

Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said despite the two false positives, there were no immediate plans to shorten Melbourne's lockdown.

"Our answer on that hasn't changed and nor should it," Mr Merlino said.

"The advice from public health remains the same.

"It (false positives or false negatives) has been a rare occurrence, but it has been a feature, when you do 100s of thousands of tests."

The COVID-free pair and their primary close contacts will be released from isolation and exposure sites reclassified, including all in Anglesea along the Great Ocean Road.

On Friday morning the Health Department issued a statement, saying there are still eight cases of transmission through passing contact.

It added there are still five exposure sites where the virus has spread through people who do not know each other.

Also on Friday, Mr Merlino said the Commonwealth would try to help Victoria meet an increased vaccine demand.
"I'm very pleased that the Federal Government has indicated that it will do all it can to meet the request of Victoria," Mr Merlino said.

Victoria wants to double the number of AstraZeneca doses available to GPs, and an extra 100,000 Pfizer doses from mid-June for its public vaccination sites.

There are now 358 sites where exposure to the virus may have occurred.

Meanwhile, the federal and Victorian governments have signed a memorandum of understanding to build the state's stand-alone quarantine site, with Avalon appearing to be Canberra's preferred location.
The federal government has said the facility would be "over and above" the current hotel quarantine system, which Mr Merlino said would always carry a level of risk.

“We have seen across our nation, 21 breaches in hotel quarantine. Our strong argument has been we must have a Howard Springs-like alternative, a purpose-built quarantine facility for our highest risk individuals,” Mr Merlino said on Friday.

There were 49,439 tests in the 24 hours to midnight on Thursday and a record 24,169 vaccine doses.


Share
4 min read
Published 4 June 2021 9:25am
Updated 4 June 2021 11:55am
Source: AAP, SBS



Share this with family and friends