Swan Hill police officer self-isolates, two other cops test positive
A police officer from Swan Hill is in self isolation after his wife was diagnosed with COVID-19 while two other officers based at Frankston have tested positive.
Deputy Commissioner Rick Nugent said the officer from Swan Hill, which sits on the Murray River on Victoria's north, had gone into self-isolation after being tested.
Police have been out in force across the state enforcing lockdown restrictionsCredit:Jason South
It is unclear at this point whether the officer was working on checkpoints on the closed Victoria-NSW border.
Two officers from Frankston police station have tested positive in the past few days, with tracing now underway to determine possible close contacts including colleagues who may have worked alongside the pair while they were infected.
The Age has been told the Swan Hill-based officer told the force late last week that his partner had tested positive.
A spokesman said the town's police station was temporarily closed over the weekend as a precaution, after the officer received notification that a close contact had returned a positive coronavirus test.
‘‘The station was immediately closed on Saturday to undergo a professional deep clean, before re-opening this morning.
The spokesman said the officer is still awaiting the results of their test and as a precaution and following health advice, their colleagues will self-isolate and be tested. The officers will be able to return to work if and when they return negative results.
‘‘During this time, additional resources will be sourced from other locations, ensuring there is no impact on the number of police in the local community,’’ the spokesman said.
The spokesman confirmed a second police officer at Frankston police station received notification they had tested positive for coronavirus on Sunday.
‘‘As a result of the positive test, Frankston police station was temporarily closed to undergo a professional deep clean, before re-opening earlier today,’’ the spokesman said.
‘‘The reception counter remains closed to limit unnecessary face to face contact with the general public, with members of the local community advised to attend their next closest station in Carrum Downs at this time.’’
Police said last week that the officer, who had only been back at work for a day after being on leave, began feeling unwell on July 7 and self-isolated while waiting for their test results.
Contact tracing is now being underway to establish how many Victoria Police officers had contact with the infected officer during the past 14 days.
‘‘These members will remain stood down from duty to self-isolate for 14 days, however the community can be assured that service delivery will remain unaffected,’’ they said.
‘‘Victoria Police will work closely with the Department of Health and Human Services in an effort to determine how the officer became infected.’’
Enquiries are being made to determine whether any members of the public had contact with the officer while they were contagious and may need to be tested.
An officer from Werribee police station tested positive two weeks ago, with six colleagues going into self-isolation.
In March, Ringwood police station was briefly closed for cleaning after an officer was found to have COVID-19. Two others were also placed into self-isolation following close contact with the infected member.
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