Four new cases each in Geelong and Colac Otway Shire

GREATER Geelong and the Colac Otway Shire each recorded four new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday as experts said they were investigating potential community transmission in Colac.

Greater Geelong and Colac Otway have 35 and 54 active cases respectively.

Fifty coronavirus cases had

been linked to the outbreak at Australian Lamb Company in

Colac, the Department of Health and Human Services said.

Barwon Health infectious disease specialist Deb Friedman said there were a small number of Colac region cases under investigation by the Barwon Health contact tracing team that suggested some community transmission.

“It is expected there will be more positive cases from recent testing and these cases will be managed through isolation and support, and if necessary, compliance checks by authorised officers,” Associate Professor Friedman said.

“The additional cases are part of the normal pattern of an outbreak.”

Prof Friedman said there was “very limited” community transmission of COVID-19 in Geelong, with almost all cases linked to a household or other known contact.

“It is important that the community follows public health advice to prevent the virus from spreading,” she said.

Another coronavirus case was reported in Golden Plains Shire on Tuesday, while a case was removed from the Surf

Coast’s tally. Those municipalities have six and three active cases respectively.

The Borough of Queenscliffe remained free of cases.

Victoria reported 384 new cases on Tuesday. Six further fatalities were reported, with four of them linked to agedcare facilities.

The latest deaths — a man and a woman in their 90s, two women and a man in their 80s, and a man in his 70s — took Victoria’s coronavirus death toll to 83.

Statewide, 260 cases of coronavirus are being treated in hospital, including 42 receiving intensive care.

One coronavirus patient was in Geelong hospital intensive care unit.

That patient was admitted to hospital more than a week ago.