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Commonwealth Bank, shopping centre among new Covid sites

Health authorities are scrambling to contain a coronavirus outbreak in Victoria as more exposure sites across the city emerged after an outbreak linked to a quarantine hotel grew to eight people.

A third worker and second former guest of the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport returned positive coronavirus test results on Wednesday hours after Chief Heath Officer Brett Sutton warned the public to expect more cases.

The latest two infections will be included in Thursday’s case tally.

Two banks at Glen Waverley in Melbourne’s southeast have been added to the list of potential exposure sites, which are spread across the city.

Anyone who attended the banks during the times below must isolate for 14 days and seek testing:

  • Commonwealth Bank, 28/32 Kingsway, Glen Waverley 1.30pm - 2.30pm on 9.2.2021

  • HSBC Bank, 38 Kingsway, Glen Waverley 2.15pm-3.30pm on 9.2.2021

The Department of Health also said anyone who attended Sunbury Square Shopping Centre on Friday, February 5 between 3.40pm and 4.40pm must isolate until they receive a negative result after an infected person visited multiple locations in the centre.

The Sunbury Square shopping centre is pictured in a Google Maps image.
The Sunbury Square shopping centre is an area of concern for health authorities. Source: Google Maps

The centre includes a Coles supermarket.

People who attended the below venues inside the shopping centre at the specific times must isolate for 14 days:

  • Bakers Delight at Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3:40pm - 4:15pm on 5/2/2021

  • Al Dente Deli at Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3:45pm - 4:23pm on 5/2/2021

  • Sushi Sushi at Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3:53pm - 4:28pm on 5/2/2021

  • Asian Star at Sunbury Square Shopping Centre, 3:57pm – 4:30pm on 5/2/2021

A full list of exposure sites is available on the Department of Health’s website.

It is unclear whether the banks were visited by either the hotel worker, former guest or other previously announced cases.

The Holiday Inn outbreak now encompasses three workers, two released guests and a family of three who contracted the virus overseas.

It has forced the hotel’s closure until further notice, while plans to increase the state’s weekly cap on international arrivals from 1120 to 1310 from next week have been put on hold.

Returned traveller unaware of rule breach

Authorities suspect a nebuliser, which vaporises medications or liquids into a fine mist, may be to blame for the outbreak.

The medical device was not declared by one of the family members in quarantine, who has an underlying health condition and was taken to intensive care on Tuesday.

Covid-19 Quarantine Victoria Commissioner Emma Cassar said the guest would have been taken to a medi-hotel if they had reported it.

Pictured is the exterior of the Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport.
The Holiday Inn at Melbourne Airport is the latest facility the virus has leaked from. Source: AAP

More than 135 hotel staff were stood down, and told to get tested and isolate at home for 14 days, while 48 guests were moved to the Pullman Melbourne to quarantine for at least another three days.

Professor Sutton said it was possible everyone on that hotel floor had been exposed to the virus through the air and warned more cases would likely be unearthed.

There have been seven cases of Covid-19 transmission across three Victorian quarantine hotels within a week, with three confirmed to be the more infectious UK strain.

Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said the UK strain had “blown open cracks” in hotel quarantine infection controls.

With AAP

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