Horror coronavirus outbreak linked to Coles grows as cases of COVID-19 surge in Victoria 

A fourth worker at a Coles distribution centre has tested positive for coronavirus after other staff members tested positive on Thursday. 

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton confirmed to reporters on Sunday the four cases were linked to the distribution centre in Laverton, Victoria. 

‘There’s an additional staff member now bringing the Coles portion of that outbreak to four,’ Prof Sutton said. 

The four cases from the Coles centre brought Sunday’s total cases in Victoria to 49 (coronavirus drive-through testing facility pictured in Melbourne)

The announcement comes after two workers from the same centre returned positive tests on Thursday.

Both team members tested positive while self-isolating after family members returned positive results. 

Coles conducted tests on a small number of team members who had come into close contact with the infected workers. 

Victoria recorded 49 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, including the four from Coles, bringing the state’s total to 1,987. 

The supermarket giant released a statement saying it’s working closely with the Health Department to limit the spread of the virus.

‘The safety of our team members and customers is our number one priority,’ the statement read. 

Coles distribution centres have thermal imaging cameras and hand-held contactless thermometers to check the temperature of all team members. 

‘We wish to assure customers that health authorities have not identified food and groceries as a potential source of infection,’ the statement continued.

‘And distribution centre team members do not manually handle individual grocery products, which are packaged in larger crates and cartons during distribution.’ 

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Coles for further comment.  

The supermarket giant released a statement saying it is working closely with the Health Department to limit the spread of the virus (Coles supermarket in Melbourne pictured)