Covid fears for thousands at MCG, major shopping centre after mystery case
Victoria’s health authorities are scrambling to trace the source of a new mystery coronavirus case who attended the Melbourne Cricket Ground alongside more than 20,000 fans.
The male in his 30s also attended Boxing Day sales at Chadstone shopping centre, with both locations now identified as potential acquisition sites, Acting Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters on Wednesday.
He visited 10 stores including Myer during his shopping spree.
He attended the MCG for Australia’s Test match against India on December 27 however authorities say he was not infectious during his visits to both sites.
However, they have said it is possible he acquired the virus at either the cricket ground or the shopping centre.
There were 23,841 in attendance on the second day of the Test. He was sat in Zone 5 of The Great Southern Stand and contact tracers will now contact everyone in that area to get tested.
Anyone in the zone between 12.30pm and 3.30pm is asked to get tested and self-isolate.
A number of close contacts have already been identified and contacted and testing of these people has been undertaken.
“The upstream contacts are the people that we're most concerned about,” Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Allen Cheng said.
“These are the people he has been in contact with in the 14 days prior to the symptoms starting. Most likely about five or six days before his symptoms started, around Christmas Eve and thereabouts.”
The man developed symptoms on December 30 and contact tracing has revealed he had stayed home and self-isolated since New Year's Eve.
Testing boss Jeroen Weimar estimates this will affect the 7000 to 8000 fans seated in the area and the "thousands" of people at the busy Chadstone Boxing Day sales.
There were no additional cases linked to the 27-strong Black Rock cluster in the previous 24 hours, however Department of Health and Human Services testing chief Jeroen Weimar said it remained “most concerning”.
List of Chadstone shops visited
Anyone who attended the following stores on December 26 between 6am and 2pm is urged to get tested if symptoms arise.
Culture Kings
Huffer
JD Sports
Jay Jays
H&M
Uniqlo
Myer
Superdry
Footlocker
Dumplings Plus
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