BREAKING NEWS: Melbourne’s coronavirus crisis deepens as a Kmart worker at a major shopping centre tests positive
- A Kmart worker at Greensborough Plaza in Melbourne’s north tested positive
- The store a was closed on Monday evening to undergo deep cleaning
- It will open again on Tuesday following a thorough sanitisation of the store
- Victoria recorded 177 new cases on Monday, with just one a returned traveller
A Kmart employee has tested positive for COVID-19 at a busy Melbourne shopping centre.
The store at Greensborough Plaza in Melbourne’s north was closed on Monday night to undergo deep cleaning.
Kmart confirmed the positive test result in a statement.
‘At Kmart, the health and safety of our team and customers is our highest priority and we can confirm that a team member at our Kmart Greensborough store has returned a positive result for COVID-19,’ a spokesperson said.
A Kmart employee has tested positive for COVID-19 at a busy Melbourne shopping centre
The store at Greensborough Plaza (pictured) in Melbourne’s north was closed on Monday night to undergo deep cleaning
Victoria recorded 177 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, with one a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, 25 connected to outbreaks and 151 under investigation
‘As soon as we were made aware, we immediately closed the store as a safety precaution and we’re currently conducting a thorough sanitisation of the store and will reopen tomorrow.
‘We are working closely with the Department of Health and will continue to keep our team and customers informed.’
Victoria recorded 177 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, with one a returned traveller in hotel quarantine, 25 connected to outbreaks and 151 under investigation.
It follows three consecutive days of case numbers exceeding 200.
‘I’m not going to be complacent about today’s number, it is great that it is lower than our peak, but we may not have reached our peak yet,’ Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told reporters.
‘I would like to see a week of decreasing numbers before I say I have greater confidence about the direction we’re going in.’
Professor Sutton said the state was seeing about four to five new outbreaks daily.
An outbreak at Somerville Meats meatworks in Tottenham has grown to 12 people, a day after five workers at JBS Meats in Brooklyn tested positive for COVID-19.
Both have been closed.
Victoria now has 1612 active coronavirus cases, with 72 people in hospital and 17 of those in intensive care.
About 1000 Australian Defence Force personnel are heading to Victoria to help enforce the state’s lockdown and testing, while five million masks have been sent from the national medical stockpile. The majority will go to aged care.
More than 100 Victorians have been fined in the past 24 hours for breaching coronavirus lockdown rules, including more than 30 people caught at social gatherings. Pictured: An empty Federation Square in Melbourne on Monday
The premier urged Victorians to abide by restrictions and do their bit to stop the spread of the virus – ‘a clever, invisible enemy’.
More than 100 Victorians have been fined in the past 24 hours for breaching coronavirus lockdown rules, including more than 30 people caught at social gatherings.
Victoria Police conducted almost 2500 spot checks at homes, businesses and public places and fined 133 people.
Thirteen people at an apartment in Docklands, 10 at an apartment on South Wharf and eight at an apartment in Southbank were fined for social gatherings.
Five people who travelled from metropolitan Melbourne to Myrniong, northwest of the city, to go camping were also fined.
About 9500 vehicles at checkpoints on main arterial roads were inspected and 22 fines handed out.