Victoria records 14 new Covid cases overnight on Friday

Victoria records 14 new Covid cases overnight as the state’s harsh lockdown FINALLY takes effect

  • Victoria has recorded 14 new coronavirus cases on Friday morning 
  • The new cases are all linked to current outbreaks with 4 infectious in community
  • State’s latest cluster has risen to 147 cases linked to cases originating from NSW 

Victoria has recorded 14 new Covid-19 cases overnight with all of them linked to current outbreaks.

Ten of the 14 cases were quarantining during the entire period they were infectious with one of the other four cases waiting to be interviewed.  

Victoria’s latest cluster has risen to 147 cases linked to the Sydney removalists who brought the highly-infecious Delta strain to the Victorian capital and a family who returned to the city from a NSW red zone. 

Of the 147 cases, 71 per cent were already isolating while infectious in positive signs for residents hoping to see lockdown end and officials to take control of the outbreak. 

There are nearly 20,000 residents in a two-week quarantine after they were identified as being close contacts of positive cases from two football games. 

Victoria has recorded 14 new Covid-19 cases overnight with all of them linked to current outbreaks and 4 infectious in the community

There were 900 people sent into two-week quarantine on Thursday after Prahan Market became a high-risk exposure site on Saturday morning

There were 900 people sent into two-week quarantine on Thursday after Prahan Market became a high-risk exposure site on Saturday morning

Of the 3,500 fans exposed to the highly-infectious Indian delta strain at the AFL game, only 74 per cent have returned a negative result so far.

Just 67 per cent of the 2,648 fans at the Wallabies game who were labelled close contracts have returned a negative test, with Victorians concerned they could be facing another lockdown similar to its 112-day stay-at-home-order from 2020.

The state’s lockdown will run until midnight on July 27, but there are fears the highly-infecious strain that has seen Sydney under stay-at-home-orders for nearly a month will see Victoria at home for an extended period. 

As many as a third of all people who have been labelled as close contacts by the Victorian government are yet to be tested – prompting fears the state could be in for another long-term lockdown.  

In Victoria, state mandate says close contacts only need a negative test on day 13 to clear protocol. Experts are calling this one-test rule a dangerous practice.

‘By day 13 it’s too late and that’s how you miss hidden chains of transmission,’ Epidemiology professor at Deakin University Catherine Bennett told The Age.  

Of the 3,500 fans exposed to the highly-infectious Indian delta strain at the AFL game, only 74 per cent have returned a negative result so far.

Just 67 per cent of the 2,648 fans at the Wallabies game who were labelled close contracts have returned a negative test, with Victorians concerned they could be facing another lockdown similar to its 112-day stay-at-home-order from 2020.

Victorians are concerned they could be facing another lockdown similar to its 112-day stay-at-home-order from 2020

Victorians are concerned they could be facing another lockdown similar to its 112-day stay-at-home-order from 2020

As many as a third of all people who have been labelled close contacts by the Victorian government are yet to be tested (pictured: Wallabies vs France at AAMI Park on July 13)

As many as a third of all people who have been labelled close contacts by the Victorian government are yet to be tested (pictured: Wallabies vs France at AAMI Park on July 13)

One of the new cases confirmed on Thursday had initially been in an area of AAMI Park classified as a Tier 2 exposure site and was allowed to leave isolation after testing negative.

The gate to his area was then increased to a Tier 1 exposure site, sending the Covid positive fan back into two-week isolation, where they tested positive. 

Professor Bennett said ‘it’s a major weakness’ in the state’s protocol that testing rates aren’t increasing and ‘quite extraordinary’ close contacts aren’t immediately told to be tested after being contacted – as is protocol in other states.

Another potential superspreader event, a Euros final watch party at the Crafty Squire in Melbourne’s CBD, has seen a quarter of fans fail to return a test. 

Covid-19 Response Commander Jeroen Weimar said officials are aware of every close contact and they will be ensuring they are following the state’s rules.

‘We know who these people are… We continue to chase them,’ he said on Thursday.

‘It’s entirely possible people would have been put off maybe two or three days ago by long testing queues.’   



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk