BREAKING NEWS: Hundreds of people in Melbourne are told to get tested NOW after ‘strong and unexpected’ traces of Covid was found in sewage
- Health Department concluded that 246 people in Melbourne should get a test
- Strains of Covid-19 have been found in western and north-western suburbs
- It is only a precaution and is most likely the result of shedding post-virus
Hundreds of Victorias have been urged to get tested for coronavirus after ‘strong and unexpected’ fragments of Covid were found in the state’s sewage.
The Health Department confirmed that 246 people who live in Melbourne’s western and north-western suburbs were called on Thursday and asked to get a test.
‘This additional action is being taken due to the strength of the wastewater detection and because a known positive Covid-19 case, from flight QF778, has been in Victoria in the past 14 days,’ the department said in a statement.
The 246 people who have been contacted today include four primary close contacts of that case and 242 recently returned red and orange zone travel permit holders.
Hundreds of Victorias have been urged to get tested for coronavirus after ‘strong and unexpected’ fragments of Covid were found in the state’s sewage
‘All of these primary close contacts have recently been tested and have returned negative results. All of the 246 people are being asked to test again out of an abundance of caution,’ the statement continued.
It is most likely that these new detections are due to a person or persons continuing to shed the virus after the infection period however, it could also be due to a person living in or travelling through the area in the early active infectious phase.
‘The wastewater testing program is designed as an early warning system to support our ongoing efforts in continuing to protect the CovidSafe environment we have achieved and therefore a cautious approach is always taken when these detections are found,’ the department said.