Young boy catches Covid on a packed Virgin flight from Melbourne to Adelaide

A teenage boy has tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Adelaide on a Virgin Australia flight where a crew member was infected. 

He is now in a medi-hotel and will remain in isolation for the next 14 days with health authorities stating there is a ‘higher level of concern’ for travellers on board other flights.

The positive flight attendant had worked for three days while infections sparking an urgent alert for interstate travellers.

The crew member was on flights between Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Newcastle between October 4 and October 6. 

‘Flight VA219 will now be treated as a transmission site and SA Health are ensuring that quarantine arrangements for all passengers reflect this higher level of concern,’ SA Health said on Sunday. 

A total of six flights have been effected by the positive case with health authorities from various states scrambling to make contact with everyone who was on board. 

‘Fellow crew members on those flights have been deemed close contacts and most do live in Melbourne and will be contacted by the department,’ Victoria’s deputy secretary of Covid-19 response Kate Matson said on Saturday.

‘Passengers on those flights are being contacted by the relevant jurisdictions and we have been in close contact with both NSW and South Australia and working closely with them to contact the relevant passengers.

The case was detected through Virgin Australia’s surveillance testing program. 

Anyone on the listed flights is urged to get tested and isolate.  

This follows the airline company’s decision to mandate Covid vaccinations for frontline workers by November 15 and office staff by the end of March.  

Fellow crew members on the affected flights have been contacted, with passengers being contacted by the relevant authorities