A gathering that involved family members who had just left New South Wales quarantine is being investigated as a possible cause of the latest outbreak in Victoria.
Contact tracers are probing the movements of a man aged in his 20s from Maribyrnong, in north-west Melbourne, after he tested positive to Covid-19.
Health authorities believe he could have caught the virus after meeting with relatives who had recently been cleared from quarantine in NSW.
The man is just one of the cases being investigated by health authorities who are probing the possibility that household-to-household contacts could be behind the latest outbreak in the state.
Contact tracers are probing the movements of a man aged in his 20s from Maribyrnong, in north-west Melbourne, after he tested positive to Covid-19 (pictured, Melbourne resident walking past a retail store on Wednesday)
State premier Daniel Andrews announced the stay-at-home orders would begin at 8pm on Thursday and last for seven days
‘It may well be the case that they’ve been visited, against the rules, by a positive case,’ state premier Daniel Andrews said.
If the link can be confirmed it will mark the second time the virus has escaped from NSW – since its latest outbreak began on June 16 – and forced Victoria into a snap lockdown.
Mr Andrews announced the stay-at-home orders would begin at 8pm on Thursday and last for seven days.
The announcement was made after the state recorded eight new cases of the highly-contagious Delta variant of the virus. The state then reported another six cases on Friday.
It is the sixth time the state has been plunged into lockdown since the pandemic began in the country in 2020. It also came ten days after Victoria had come out of its latest lockdown.
Health officials are concerned one of the mystery cases, an infected teacher at Al-Taqwa College in Truganina, may have unknowingly spread the virus in the community while infectious.
Her partner and two relatives have also tested positive.
The husband works as an optometrist at Caroline Springs and is also a member of the Newport Football Club.
He had been playing with his team against West Footscray last Saturday, prompting The Western Region Football League to be placed on high alert.
It is unknown how the couple, who live in the Hobsons Bay area and are both in their 20s, caught the virus.
The Al-Taqwa College has become a testing site and is offering vaccinations to staff and students.
State premier Daniel Andrews announced the stay-at-home orders would begin at 8pm on Thursday and last for seven days
It is the sixth time the state has been plunged into lockdown since the pandemic began in the country in 2020
There are more than 80 new exposure sites listed, largely in Melbourne’s west.
A Year 6 student from Heathdale Christian College has also tested positive forcing both its Werribee and Melton campuses to close.
The school took to Facebook to urge anyone who had visited the campus to immediately get tested and isolate.
‘Students and teachers in Years 5 and 6 AND their households must continue to quarantine for 14 days even if they test negative and will be contacted by the public health unit or department,’ the post read.
Victorians are currently under the same rules that applied during last month’s lockdown.
They are only allowed to leave home for five-reasons, prohibited from exercising or shopping more than five kilometres away from their houses and must wear masks indoors and outdoors.
News of the lockdown sparked backlash in the community with demonstrators taking to the streets on Thursday night.
A large ball of fire is captured in the background as chaotic anti-lockdown protests erupted in Melbourne on Thursday night (pictured) with hundreds taking to the streets
Several flares were set off during the demonstration as tensions boiled over with police, who made 15 arrests at the protest
Protesters, some carrying placards and most not wearing masks, gathered at Flinders Street and moved into Swanston Street as police in masks gathered to try to disperse them.
Flares were lit and the crowd chanted ‘no more lockdowns,’ the Herald Sun reported while residents of nearby apartments shouted ‘Go home, idiots’.
Video on Twitter feeds showed police on foot and horseback fronting the crowd, and a line of officers shoulder to shoulder on the steps of Flinders Street Station.
One video showed two officers using handheld devices to spray protesters with what may have been pepper spray.
One protester shouted ‘COVID is fake’ and another said he was angered by Victoria’s sixth lockdown.
‘We can’t keep going through this, we are losing our livelihoods,’ the man from Melbourne’s southeast told the Herald Sun.
Police said ‘hundreds of people engaged in an unlawful protest’ and they made 15 arrests – nine people were held before their identity could be confirmed to issue fines and two were arrested for breaching bail and stating false names.
A protester is seen holding a sign that claims the state’s lockdown is not about Covid (pictured in Melbourne on Thursday night)
A protester with a megaphone is pictured speaking with police officers during the rally