New local cases prompt warning
THREE new Covid cases were reported for Geelong on Monday, while a local construction site was listed as a tier one exposure site due to an infected Melburnian.
Barwon Health has pleaded with people travelling between Melbourne and Geelong for work to be “incredibly vigilant”.
Of the three new Geelong cases, one is a household contact of a Herne Hill case and the others are household contacts of a Clifton Springs case.
On Monday night, Barwon Health listed Coles and Coffee Hit at Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre as exposure sites. There are three patients with Covid-19 in Geelong hospital.
THREE new Covid cases were reported for Geelong on Monday, while a local construction site was listed as a tier one exposure site due to an infected Melburnian.
Barwon Health has pleaded with people travelling between Melbourne and Geelong for work to be “incredibly vigilant”.
Of the three new Geelong cases, one is a household contact of a Herne Hill case and the others are household contacts of a Clifton Springs case.
On Monday night, Barwon Health listed Coles and Coffee Hit at Waurn Ponds Shopping Centre as exposure sites.
Staff who worked at Coles last Friday from 6am-noon must get a Covid test and isolate for 14 days, regardless of the result.
Customers who visited in that time should be tested immediately and isolate until they receive a negative result.
Anyone who visited Coffee Hit between 11am-noon on Friday has to be tested and isolate until they get a negative result.
The new Covid infections take Greater Geelong’s active cases tally to 13. It is understood a Torquay resident tested positive on Monday and will be included in Tuesday’s numbers.
That case is believed to be linked to the V/Line staff outbreak.
A new tier one exposure site was listed at the Quest Geelong Central construction site at 71-77 Gheringhap St after a case visited the site.
It is an exposure site on September 9 from 7am5.30pm. Anyone who attended in that time must get tested immediately and quarantine for 14 days from exposure.
Barwon Health public health unit director Eugene Athan said the exposure site was related to a confirmed Melbourne case.
Multiple recent local Covid cases have been linked to construction sites.
Professor Athan said anyone who was required to travel between Geelong and Melbourne for work was asked to be incredibly vigilant with hand hygiene precautions and mask-wearing, as well as keeping very aware of the latest exposure sites in their community.
“Everyone should follow this advice, but especially people who are living or working in areas known to have positive cases and exposure sites,” he said.
Professor Athan said there were three patients with Covid-19 in Geelong hospital, transferred as part of the statewide streaming model to support metropolitan health services. Two were in a stable condition and one in a critical but stable condition.
Bellarine Respiratory Clinic, at the Epichealth site on Guthridge St, Ocean Grove, saw a “massive increase” in testing on Monday after local exposure sites on the peninsula published at the weekend, Epichealth chief operations officer Jeremy Forrester said.
Victoria reported 473 new locally acquired cases on Monday, with 202 linked to known cases and outbreaks.
NSW reported 1257 new cases on Monday and seven deaths.