Australia’s biggest super spreader: Hospitality worker transmitted coronavirus to FOUR separate clusters – and he didn’t even know he was sick
- Health detectives are working to find and stop COVID-19 outbreaks in Victoria
- Officials traced four separate clusters back to a Melbourne hospitality worker
- The worker hadn’t shown strong symptoms or realised he was infectious
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
Pandemic detectives have located a man responsible for causing four separate outbreaks of COVID-19.
The hospitality worker has been linked to dozens of cases of coronavirus after an investigation revealed infected patients had all visited one Melbourne venue.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen told the Herald Sun they soon discovered it was worse than they anticipated.
‘This is the war of our generation,’ Dr van Diemen said.
A hospitality worker has been linked to dozens of cases of coronavirus after an investigation revealed infected patients had all visited one Melbourne venue (stock image)
‘Initially we thought there was a cluster of cases who had all been to that venue on a particular night and we thought somebody in that place had it,’ Dr van Diemen said.
‘A bit later there was another cluster from an event at the same place. Now there are at least three clusters linked to that venue and at least one of them has seeded off another cluster.’
The worker had been showing no strong symptoms of coronavirus, and had no reason to suspect he was infectious until being contacted by health authorities.
Health authorities have formed a 1,000 person team of contract-tracing detectives to get on top of the viral spread across Victoria.
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Dr Annaliese van Diemen (pictured) is leading the fight against coronavirus in Victoria
Many of them work over the phone speaking with people who have contracted coronavirus to figure out how their movements may have spread the virus.
Interviews can take up to 90 minutes to determine the full scale of where each infected person has travelled and who they have come into contact with.
The workers are helping to restrict the further spread of COVID-19 by imposing strict isolation on those connected to any of the large recorded clusters.
Pictured: the Melbourne CBD is deserted on Good Friday after directives from health authorities to stay home
There are more than 52 separate clusters of COVID-19 in Victoria – three which are linked to large weddings.
As of midnight on Friday April 10 Victoria had a reported 1,241 cases of coronavirus ranging from babies to people in their early 90s.
Among the cases a suspected 116 are thought to be linked to community transmission, sparking concerns COVID-19 may be infectious in patients earlier than they realise.
A lone figure drags a suitcase on the empty streets of Melbourne on Good Friday