Gatherings in private homes in Victoria for New Year’s Eve will be restricted to 15 people, down from 30, and masks will again be mandatory indoors, Acting Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced.
The crackdown comes after Victoria on Thursday morning recorded three further cases of COVID-19, additional to the three women who tested positive on Wednesday.
The three new cases are among the 52 close contacts of the original three and those contacts stretch across Melbourne and into parts of regional Victoria, authorities said.
There were no cases recorded in hotel quarantine after more than 13,000 tests were carried out on Wednesday.
The three women – two in their 40s and one in her 70s – who tested positive on Wednesday are believed to be linked through close contacts to the outbreaks in NSW, although none of them had travelled over the border.
The women from Mitcham, Mentone and Hallam, in Melbourne’s east – and more than 40 close contacts – were isolating at home, Victoria’s COVID-19 testing commander, Jeroen Weimar said.
Late on Wednesday, the Health Department released a list of exposure sites, including Fountain Gate Shopping Centre on Boxing Day. Anyone who was at Mentone/Parkdale beach on December 27, or at Century City Walk and Mocha Jo’s in Glen Waverley or Katialo restaurant in the Eaton Mall in Oakleigh on December 28 should immediately be tested.
Epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely said he expects the Victorian government will move to tighten restrictions for some parts of Melbourne ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations tonight.
Source & Credit:TheAge.com Read more at TheAge.com
