Construction worker at Brighton private school and healthcare workers test positive
A construction worker at a private school in Melbourne's south-east and two healthcare workers in regional Victoria were included in the eight new COVID-19 cases recorded in the state since Tuesday.
The subcontractor was carrying out renovations at St Leonard's College in Brighton when he tested positive last week. The site has been shut down for cleaning and is expected to reopen on Thursday.
St Leonard's College in Brighton.Credit:St Leonard's
The school said the small number of students who were on campus did not have close contact with the worker. The labourer worked on an exterior part of the building and did not use shared spaces with school staff or students, the spokeswoman said.
The worker was tested last Tuesday and received his positive test on Tuesday this week. The ADCO Construction worker, who was believed to be asymptomatic, probably had close contact with two fellow workers, the company's chief executive said.
St Leonard's principal Stuart Davis said in a letter to parents the Health Department, ADCO and the confirmed case were confident no staff or students were at risk.
"There has been no close contact with the positive case. Therefore there is no public health risk linked to staff and students," he said.
Meanwhile, two healthcare workers at Kyabram District Health Service also tested positive as part of the service's regular testing.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen said neither of the employees worked while they were infectious.
A small number of staff have been told to self-isolate but no patients or residents have been deemed close contacts, the Health Department said.
The total number of confirmed cases so far in Victoria is now 1580, with one case reclassified as a duplicate since Tuesday.
One additional case has emerged from the Cedar Meats abattoir cluster and two cases previously under investigation were attributed to the cluster, taking its size to 103.
The Brooklyn meatworks reopened this week with about 20 staff.
Dr Annaliese van Diemen said health authorities were investigating whether there was a link between the outbreaks at Cedar Meats and the McDonald's cluster that has closed a number of outlets in Melbourne's north.
"At this time we don't have an epidemiological link between McDonald's and Cedar Meats," she said.
"That has been investigated extensively we are still waiting on genomics to see if there is a genomics link."
Only one case of community transmission, who had no known link to another infected person, was recorded.
There have been no new deaths for three weeks, with the death toll standing at 18. There are 93 active cases in Victoria.
About 9000 tests were completed on Tuesday, taking the total number to 367,000.
"Today's increase in cases illustrates once again that while we have been flattening the curve, our battle against COVID-19 is far from over," Victoria's Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton, said.
"Restrictions around some activities have now been eased in Victoria in recognition of the current low rate of community transmission of this virus.
"While encouraging, we need to remain vigilant. We must maintain physical distancing, practise hygiene and self-isolation when ill. These are commonsense actions to ensure we don’t create a second wave of this serious disease, as we have seen in other countries once they have eased their stringent regulations."