Victorians have been issued a warning and advised to avoid travelling to and from six local government areas where coronavirus outbreaks have occurred until the source of community transmission has been identified.
On Sunday, the Victorian Government identified Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin as the focus of current COVID-19 outbreaks as the state’s number of active cases reached 121.
The areas cover large parts of Melbourne’s west, northwest, north and southeast.
Now the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee has “strongly discouraged” travel to and from those areas while the state prepares to reimpose some restrictions.
The committee is the key decision making body for health emergencies and is comprised of all state and territory chief health officers and is chaired by the Australian Chief Health Medical Officer.
Sixteen new positive tests were recorded in the past 24 hours after 19 were recorded on Sunday. Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said a taskforce of 50 will begin doorknocking in hot-spots at Brimbank and Cardinia.
“They will be people clearly identifiable as public health officials who will be able to provide the community in those hotspot locations with more information and advice about symptoms, about testing locations and about the financial support that is available to people if they are identifying as a close contact and need to be quarantined,” Ms Mikakos said on Monday.
“We have been concerned that some people may be taking some risks with their health and with the health of others by still going out into the community even though they might have gone for a test and haven’t yet received a test result or may have been identified as a close contact.
“If you go and get tested, you must stay at home until you receive your test result.
The 35 new cases over the weekend follow rises of 25, 13, 18 and 21 cases over the previous four days.
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