Victoria has conducted its biggest blitz of community testing for the coronavirus since the outbreak began, with staff at a Melbourne meatworks at the centre of a surge in new cases.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said 19 people tested positive at a meat processing plant at the weekend.
Two more positive tests came from returning travellers from overseas, who are in quarantine. One other is being investigated, taking the total number of new cases overnight to 22.
There are now 1406 cases in total in the state, with 19 of the new cases linked to an outbreak at a meatworks.
The facility, which was not named by authorities, was previously linked to 15 cases.
Victorian Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the majority of the workers with the virus at the meat processing plant were asymptomatic.
“All of them will have been in quarantine at the time they’ve been identified, so it’s not a risk to the general community and it’s not going to get out of control,” he told reporters on Monday.
Professor Sutton said the facility has been shut down and testing of staff will continue.
The latest cases come as Victoria conducted 13,000 tests on Sunday alone at 90 sites. The state has tested 56,000 people since a blitz was announced a week ago after opening up testing to the wider community.
“More than we’ve seen on a single day in any part of the country throughout this whole pandemic,” Mr Andrews said on Monday morning.
“I can’t emphasise enough how pleased, how proud and how grateful I am.”
“Not only have Victorians been doing their best to protect each other by following the rules and staying home, they’ve also been stepping up to get themselves tested.
The blitz, in its second week, is being done by nurses, doctors and pathology collection staff via a combination of drive-through and walk-up clinics.
Mobile screening clinics have also set up on construction sites while retailers have also joined the fight with drive-up testing sites in their carparks.
“With every test we’re getting vital information, and that puts us in a better position to consider slowly easing some of the restrictions that we have in place,” Mr Andrews said.
Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos urged people to continue to get tested even if they had only mild symptoms.
“Even if you have mild symptoms – like a runny nose or scratchy throat – please get yourself down to one of our 90 sites and take a test.”
Professor Sutton added: “The more testing we do, the more we know about the virus in the community and how much we are slowing its spread – this will help us make decisions about next steps.”
The national cabinet will meet twice this week. Victoria’s state of emergency finishes on May 11, the earliest date the government will consider relaxing social distancing restrictions.
It aims to complete 100,000 virus tests before next Monday to help in making that decision.
Meanwhile, Melbourne Water will be at the forefront of a coronavirus sewage sampling project aiming to help inform policy makers and health authorities about potential clusters of people infected.
On Sunday, the government confirmed a teacher at Meadow Glen primary school in Epping had coronavirus. The school will be shut until Wednesday.
The post Victoria’s biggest testing blitz uncovers 22 new coronavirus cases appeared first on The New Daily.
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