Two suspected cases of ‘fleeting’ transmission between strangers have been reclassified as false positives, raising hope that the mode of virus spread may not be as alarming as thought.
As Melbourne enters its second week of lockdown on Friday — with restrictions lifting in regional Victoria — an expert panel’s review of the two cases found the people were not even infected.
The examples were among a handful of cases cited to justify a seven-day extension to the lockdown as they were considered evidence of the virus spreading between strangers in a way that had not been seen before.
It comes amid a report that the Federal Government will hand over the $200million requested by Victoria to build a stand-alone quarantine facility for returning travellers.
The Australian reports Scott Morrison will commit to the 500-bed facility at Avalon Airport — not at Mickleham, north of Melbourne, as hoped by the Victorian government — in a plan being finalised ahead of Friday’s National Cabinet meeting.
Melbourne’s lockdown had been due to end midnight Thursday but was extended for a number of reasons including fears the outbreak would “explode” because of its highly infectious nature.
COVID-19 commander Jeroen Weimar had cited up to five cases of suspected “stranger-to-stranger transmission” to show the Indian (or Kappa) variant was more contagious and faster moving.
“People are brushing past each other in a small shop, they are going to display homes, they are looking at phones in a Telstra shop,” he said on Tuesday.
“This is very, relatively speaking, fleeting contact. They do not know each other’s names and that is very different from what we have seen before.”
However just hours before the city entered its second week of the shutdown on Friday, Victoria’s Department of Health dropped the bombshell that will prompt fresh scrutiny of the seven-day extension.
Health authorities initially thought a woman caught COVID-19 at a Metricon display home at Mickleham two days after an infected man had been there.
They had also believed a man similarly picked up the virus at Brighton Beach Hotel despite it being a well-ventilated, outdoor venue.
However an expert panel reviewing the cases has confirmed neither person was even infected which lowers Victoria’s infection tally to 61.
The COVID-free pair and their primary close contacts will be released from isolation and any associated exposure sites stood down, including all in Anglesea along the Great Ocean Road where people had rushed to get tested.
The Metricon display home and Brighton Beach Hotel remain linked to other confirmed cases and will remain exposure sites.
Victoria’s health department explained authorities always enact immediate health measures for every positive case.
“Those cases can be re-evaluated, their test results can be re-run and further investigations and reviews conducted to confirm their true nature,” it said.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has repeatedly described the variant as a “beast”, while his deputy Allan Cheng estimates it is probably 50 per cent more infectious than the strain that led to the city’s 112-day lockdown last year.
“If we let this thing run its course, it will explode,” said Acting Premier James Merlino when announcing the lockdown extension on Wednesday.
“We’ve got to run this to ground because if we don’t, people will die.”
Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien has been critical of the “apocalyptic” language used to describe the Indian variant, and rejoiced in news of the “false positives”.
“If the basis for the lockdown extension turned out to be false, it should end. Time for the Labor Government to be upfront with Victorians,” he tweeted.
Victoria’s hotel quarantine facility
A stand-alone quarantine centre for Victoria has taken a step forward with the federal government handing a memorandum of understanding to the state.
The Victorian government put the proposal to the federal government in late April, with a site at Mickleham, north of Melbourne, as its preferred option ahead of Avalon Airport near Geelong.
Victoria wants the Commonwealth to fund and build the 500-bed facility at a cost of $200 million and The Australian reports on Friday a deal may be close.
Scott Morrison is reportedly close to signing off on a commitment to fund the build which could start by September, with the facility opening in January.
But under the terms of a under a memorandum of understanding, the state would be required to pay for the costs of operating the centre which would operate “over and above” the current hotel quarantine system.
Victoria’s Acting Premier James Merlino said he had a brief discussion with Prime Minister Scott Morrison about alternative quarantine arrangements on Wednesday night.
Mr Merlino said the Avalon proposal would work equally well compared to the Mickleham option.
“That is a call for the federal government,” Mr Merlino said.
-with AAP
The post Two COVID cases that contributed to Melbourne’s lockdown extension were false positives appeared first on The New Daily.
**Know benefits of facebook marketing --http://bit.ly/2RgChw3