A Victorian man has tested positive to coronavirus after isolating for 14 days in South Australia’s hotel quarantine system and returning to his home in Melbourne’s north.
The case has ended Victoria’s 73-day run of no community transmission of coronavirus.
In a statement released on Tuesday morning, the Department of Health said a full public health response was under way after the man, aged in his 30s, tested positive on Tuesday morning.
A coronavirus testing site in South Melbourne in March.Credit:Joe Armao
What do we know so far?
The man returned to Australia from overseas last month. He isolated in hotel quarantine in South Australia before returning to his home in Wollert in Melbourne on May 4.
The man developed symptoms four days after finishing his quarantine period on May 8.
It is unclear at this point whether he had coronavirus before he entered hotel quarantine or whether he caught the virus during or after his stay.
The Health Department has confirmed he was tested on Monday and returned a positive result on Tuesday morning.
Exposure sites
The man who has tested positive is isolating at home. It is unclear at this point where the man travelled between May 4 and May 8 before he developed symptoms of the virus.
He is currently being interviewed by contact tracers with potential exposure sites being collected by the state’s public health team.
The man’s household primary close contacts are also isolating and are being interviewed, and will be urgently tested for the virus.
The Herald Sun has reported that workers at Melbourne CBD health company Citadel were sent home as a precaution after a potential coronavirus scare in their offices.
It is not known whether the scare is linked to the Wollert man. Citadel has been contacted for comment. The company provides software support for the health sector including hospitals.
The department said it was working with interstate authorities to determine the source of the infection.
When we will know more?
South Australian officials are holding a press conference at 1.15pm today to provide further details about the case. Victoria’s public health team is expected to address the media following this press conference.
South Australia has five quarantine hotels and one dedicated COVID-19 hotel for people that test positive for coronavirus. There were 19 confirmed cases of coronavirus in South Australia as of yesterday, all acquired overseas.
A number of experts have previously declared the South Australian quarantine system to be one of the safest, however, when recently questioned about whether they had conducted ventilation audits at all the quarantine hotels, SA Health only provided detailed information about work done at the COVID-19 hotel, Tom’s Court Hotel in the Adelaide CBD.
“There is no shared air between rooms and additional airflow requirements were installed in the hotel to ensure that corridor spaces met infection control and ventilation requirements,” an SA Health spokesperson said last month.
Get tested
If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 – such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, chills or sweats, change in sense of smell or taste – get a test immediately.
To see where to get tested, visit coronavirus.vic.gov.au/where-get-tested-covid-19
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