Woolworths Balmain employee who returned from Melbourne tests positive for COVID-19

Woolworths supermarket worker who had just left Melbourne quarantine tests positive to COVID-19 in Sydney – raising fears Victorian outbreak is spreading across Australia

  • Woolworths employee at a Sydney supermarket has tested positive to COVID-19
  • He had recently returned from Melbourne – the epicentre of Australia’s outbreak
  • NSW’s chief medical officer said the man had tested positive in hotel quarantine
  • But he was still allowed to fly home after not exhibiting symptoms for 72 hours 

A Woolworths supermarket in Sydney has been locked down after an employee who recently returned from Melbourne tested positive for COVID-19.

More than 50 workers at the Balmain supermarket have been ordered to quarantine after the worker tested positive.

The store underwent a deep clean on Wednesday night.

NSW chief health officer Kerry Chant said the man had tested positive while he was being quarantined in a hotel in Victoria, but had been cleared of the virus before he had flown north.

More than 50 workers at the Balmain Woolworths (pictured) have been ordered to quarantine after the worker tested positive

A large team of police officers, nurses and airport staff began greeting new arrivals to Sydney from Thursday, on the hunt for visitors from Melbourne's hotspot suburbs

A large team of police officers, nurses and airport staff began greeting new arrivals to Sydney from Thursday, on the hunt for visitors from Melbourne’s hotspot suburbs

‘If you are symptom free 72 hours and it’s been at least 10 days since your onset of your symptoms than you are deemed non-infectious,’ Dr Chant said.

‘The reports from Woolworths was there wasn’t really any overcrowding… even though it’s quite a compact store.’

Dr Chant said the man worked in the self-serve checkout section of the store but was considered to be a ‘low-level’ of infectious.

The man had worn a mask on his flight from Melbourne to Sydney, but there are still concerns he could have infected those sitting near him.

Anyone onboard that plane will be contacted by NSW Health.

A total of 77 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Victoria on Wednesday, taking the total to 2,231. New South Wales recorded eight new cases, all of which are in hotel quarantine

A total of 77 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Victoria on Wednesday, taking the total to 2,231. New South Wales recorded eight new cases, all of which are in hotel quarantine

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said anyone who had been to Balmain Woolworths in recent days should stay on the ‘alert’ for symptoms. 

‘His employer, a manager in the store, asked him to have another test because he obviously had some sort of symptoms and that test has come back positive,’ he said.

‘We’ve got to work on the basis that it’s positive, although sometimes these come back to be false positives, but right now we have to work on the basis that it’s a positive.

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