Victoriaâs coronavirus testing commander Jeroen Weimar said the third case was a female. She was already a primary close contact and was understood to have been an assistant manager at the Holiday Inn hotel.
I hope that the Herald Sun have got this one wrongâŚ
(Article behind a paywall)
State government advisers were on Thursday instructed to draw up a framework for another lockdown, which could be introduced as early as Friday night, or possibly within days.
A source close to Emergency Management Victoria told the Herald Sun authorities feared they had lost control of the outbreak.
The restrictions could be similar to the recent five-day lockdown in Western Australia, where residents in Perth and two other regions were only allowed to leave home for an hour to exercise with a mask within 5km, or if they were an essential worker, needed groceries or medical supplies, were receiving health care or were supporting someone with needs.
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The article mentions a tweet by the Victorian Department of Health at 11pm AEDT tonight, confirming another two cases linked to the Holiday Inn cluster.
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i wouldnât be trusting the herald sun too much on this. when they have got things wrong in the past
but no doubt it will be brought up next time dan has his press conference
They caught this cluster early, literally a day. Itâs all close contacts who have been isolating testing positive. There has been no spread into the community and is extremely low. Currently sitting at 13.
Unlike, the Black Rock cluster where that took a few days for the first case to come forward and that hit 30 in the end.
I donât understand why the states are closing borders and newspapers calling for a lockdown for this cluster when nothing was considered for Black Rock. It doesnât make sense to me.
I feel weâre in a much better position cases wise for this cluster than Black Rock for the same time.
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This media fearmongering needs to stop. The amount of people that have messaged me this morning saying we are âapparentlyâ going into another lockdown is ridiculous. All based off a News Corp article that is mere speculation and purposely instilling fear because we had a day with a few cases.
I really hope there is nothing to this. Every case is directly linked to a worker or close contact. These people have all been isolating for 5 days now so most cases should be getting caught now but pose minimal risk. Of the new positives there has only been 1 new exposure site listed as well. I feel more comfortable about this cluster than the Black Rock which has numerous infected people in the community for days, yet they got under control.
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Because âUK strainâ = 
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Victoriaâs numbers for today. Looks like no further additional cases after what were announced yesterday afternoon/evening.
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I noticed that the exposure site listed overnight, Brunetti cafe at Melb airport, the case attended on the 9th Feb. Shouldnât all workers of the Holiday Inn and their close contacts have been isolating for a couple of days by that point? If we have someone that should have been isolating there or someone that slipped through the cracks, then that isnât going to go down well. Especially if itâs something that influences any decisions.
It is the UK variant they are all freaking out about it.
Recently released Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows alcohol retailer turnover in Australia increased by $3.3 billion from 2019 to 2020, reaching a record $15.6 billion in 2020 which represents an increase of 26.7 per cent.
The impact of lockdowns caused by the pandemic was felt across all states and territories, which has likely contributed to dramatic increases in alcohol retailer turnover, especially in Victoria where sales remained elevated over a nine-month period continuing from the first COVID-19 wave to the second.
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This outbreak has me wanting the Federal Government to speed up the vaccination program more and more. It feels like every few weeks we have a state under a âUK strainâ cloud and itâs so disruptive. I know vaccines are not going to solve the short term but the faster we start vaccinating the quicker we get to a point where we start reducing risk. We are the only continent (apart from Antarctica) that hasnât commenced a vaccination program.
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It 100% needs to be given to HQ workers. I donât really care so much about the rest of the public.
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This latest cluster should trigger the conversation about an international traffic light system, allowing home quarantine with a detention bracelet for travelers coming from countries that have little or no covid. People are more likely to get covid in the hotel in Australia than they were on the streets of green countries like Fiji, Vietnam, Cambodia or China etc.
Then there can be amber countries like S Korea, Phillipines and Indonesia, where you can do home quarantine IF you have evidence you are fully vaccinated.
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I think that would be a great idea but you would need to be careful with some of those green zones and make sure their testing rates are high.
The media are in an absolute frenzy this morning - it is ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous.
The premiers office should be making a statement and rubbishing the claims if theyâre not true, rather Dan will likely come out to look like the hero to announce there is no need for a lockdown.
As others have mentioned - the blackrock cluster was way worse we had a day with 10 cases, here weâre at a total of 13 all linked, all traced back, all contacts of contacts and to be fair relatively minimal exposure sites.
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Neil reporting his sources telling him Sat-Wed restrictions. Still unconfirmed and not known.
If they were going into a lockdown why would they wait? Just act now if that is the case. I am all for doing whatever it takes to stop this cluster but I donât see why they are speculating on this when the Victorian government hasnât been afraid of acting and havenât yet. Look if there is a case that isnât linked then I would expect a snap lockdown.
11.59pm this evening he said. I think thatâs close enough, or less than 12 Hours from when they will announce to.
As to what? 5 days would sort of indicate what Perth and Brisbane did I guess? Such a very specific timeframe.
Metro only I would say. Donât drag regional isolated communities into this again.