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'Dear God': Grim warning about Victoria's new mystery case

After celebrating four days without any new Covid-19 infections moving around the community and the state looking onwards and upwards as it exited lockdown, Victoria was hit with a dose of reality on Wednesday when an unlinked case emerged.

ABC's Afternoon Briefing host Patricia Karvelas perfectly summed up the mood in Melbourne with her tweet on the revelation a case has spent time in the community while infectious.

"NO DEAR GOD NO," she wrote.

She was responding to an article from The Age which included comment from Deakin University epidemiology chair Catherine Bennett who said regardless of whether the man picked it up at a testing clinic he was working at or from an unknown source in the community, it was "not good".

Melbourne residents cross a busy street.
Melbourne reopened on Wednesday but with a new mystery case, will it last long? Source: Getty

Authorities are now scrambling to find the source as fears grow the case, and a potential chain of unknown infections, could derail the state's easing of restrictions less than 24 hours after exiting a lockdown for the fifth time.

The man, a traffic controller, worked at the Moonee Valley Racecourse testing site. He tested positive on Wednesday, two days after developing symptoms.

Health Minister Martin Foley stressed that location was low risk, but had been thoroughly cleaned and workers on the same shift as him sent into isolation as a precaution.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said a number of household and social close contacts of the man have been identified and are undergoing urgent testing.

On Thursday, no further cases in the community emerged, with an additional six all in isolation.

A petrol station, two supermarkets and a shopping centre in Frankston and Frankston South were also listed as exposure sites linked to the man.

Anyone who attended during the specified time frames is required to get tested for Covid-19 and isolate until they return a negative result.

A supermarket in Altona North and a 7-Eleven in Yarraville were also listed on the state's exposure site list, though it is unclear if they are linked to the man.

The man's case will be included in Thursday's official figures.

Victoria's latest outbreak, which originated in NSW, now stands at 199 cases with the inclusion of the man's infection.

The outbreak peaked at 26 known local cases on July 22, with infections slowly tailing off in the previous days.

With AAP

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