Hundreds of residents in an inner-city apartment tower have been ordered to self-isolate after a positive case visited the building.
Anyone living at the 23-storey LaCrosse building in Docklands in Melbourne’s inner-city has been told to immediately get tested and self-isolate for 14 days if they were anywhere in the building at any time on July 16.
The positive case was infectious for a week from that day until 11.59pm on Friday, Victorian Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton said.
Residents of the 23-storey Lacrosse Docklands building at 673 Latrobe Street have been told must get ‘urgently’ tested and self-isolate for 14 days if they were inside at any time on Friday, July 16
The Lacrosse Building at Docklands is a Tier 1 exposure site and considered potentially infectious until midnight next Friday, July 30
The building is now a Tier 1 exposure site and considered potentially infectious until midnight on July 30.
‘Residents will be contacted throughout the day to give them a time to attend a pop-up testing clinic being set up for the residents of the building,’ said Victoria Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton.
He added that residents must self-isolate ‘until further notice’.
The LaCrosse Building is well known for a 2014 blaze started by a resident smoking on a balcony. The fire raced up the building’s aluminium composite cladding and caused $5million in damage.
Victoria announced 12 new virus cases on Saturday as it continues to follow a ‘go early, go hard’ approach to fighting COVID-19 infections.
Health authorities say the infections are all linked to current outbreaks. Ten of the cases were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period.
The numbers come with 19,281 vaccine doses administered in the past 24 hours in Victoria and 39,846 COVID tests conducted.
The state recorded 14 cases on Friday, 11 of which were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
Premier Daniel Andrews said those results, amid high testing numbers, were ‘very encouraging’.
Pictured are workers at a Covid-19 testing clinic in Albert Park in Melbourne on Thursday
Victoria has announced 12 new Covid cases on Saturday all linked to the Delta strain outbreak
Premier Daniel Andrews has condemned a planned anti-lockdown protest on Saturday (Two women are pictured going for their daily exercise in Melbourne)
Police meanwhile say they are concerned about ‘entitled’ protesters planning to mass in Melbourne on Saturday.
They say the gatherings have the potential to thwart the state’s efforts to emerge from its fifth lockdown.
A rally involving a few hundred people could involve flares and the blocking of an inner-city bridge, Chief Commissioner of Police Shane Patton said on Friday.
Ten of Saturday’s reported cases were in quarantine throughout their entire infectious period
‘Where you have the vast majority of Victorians doing the right thing, sitting at home, it’s such a sense of entitlement to say ‘I can go out and protest just because I disagree’ and potentially breach all of the CHO guidelines and spread the virus,’ he told 3AW.
Mr Andrews labelled the idea of protesting lockdown ‘ridiculous’.
‘Protest against this virus by staying at home, following the rules and getting out of lockdown,’ he said.
Rising cases in Sydney prompted the premier on Friday to call for a ‘ring of steel’ around the northern city, to prevent virus spread into his and other states.
The strategy, involving policed roadblocks and mobile checks, was used to separate Melbourne from regional Victoria during part of the state’s 112-day lockdown in 2020.
The premier pitched the idea at national cabinet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and other state and territory leaders on Friday afternoon, but his request was denied.
A pedestrian wearing a face mask crosses the street in front of a tram in Melbourne on Friday
In a press conference following the meeting, Mr Morrison argued stay-at-home rules were enough to keep the virus at bay.
Earlier on Friday, NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said Sydney needed extra Pfizer doses to protect younger people.
Mr Andrews said he doubted vaccine doses destined for Victoria would be sent to NSW.
Victoria reported seven people in hospital with COVID-19 on Friday including two in intensive care, though neither were on ventilators. The state was managing a total of 146 active community cases.
Victoria’s current set of restrictions are set to be eased on July 27 but Mr Andrews says health authorities want more data before deciding if the lockdown will end on time.