Victoria has recorded four new locally acquired COVID-19 cases. All are linked to the state’s current outbreaks and all were in quarantine throughout their infectious period.
Health officials say Victoria administered 15,841 vaccine doses in the 24 hours to Saturday evening and processed 25,779 virus test results.
The numbers follow two cases reported on Saturday, one quarantined during their infectious period and the other a colleague of a Melbourne testing site worker at Moonee Valley Racecourse who was briefly in the community before isolating.
Health Minister Martin Foley said on Saturday the fellow traffic controller shared a lift after work with the first, whose diagnosis was confirmed this week.Â
“He (the second traffic controller) was isolated as soon as he was identified as close contact and didn’t have much time in the community,” he said.
He visited Devon Plaza shopping centre in Doncaster on July 28, so anyone there between 10.20 and 11.25 should isolate and get tested, he said.
Authorities were still investigating how the first Moonee Valley worker contracted the virus.
Initial results from genomic testing have linked the case to the outbreak at Maribyrnong’s Ariele apartment complex sparked by a crew of NSW removalists.
However as of Saturday no origin for the Frankston man’s infection with the Delta strain had been established.
He visited his partner at a Newport apartment building while infectious and it is a close contact of this person who was the second positive case recorded on Saturday.
Meanwhile Victoria’s now more than one million fully vaccinated residents mean a slight change to the Pfizer jab rollout in its state-run clinics.
As of Monday all people who receive a first dose of Pfizer will wait six weeks – not three – for their second dose.
The delayed second dose is the same strategy being used in Sydney to protect more of the population faster and has also been done in the UK and Canada.
GP clinics run by the Commonwealth will continue to administer second Pfizer doses three weeks after the first dose.
Victoria is living under relaxed restrictions since coming out of its fifth lockdown, however private gatherings are not yet permitted and strict mask-wearing applies.Â
AAP
