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Victoria confirms four new local COVID-19 cases, not yet linked to known clusters

The four cases are in the same household, but are not linked to a known outbreak.

The four cases are in the same household, but are not linked to a known outbreak. Photo: Getty

Victoria had four new locally acquired coronavirus infections on Thursday, as Melburnians wake to their final day of strict lockdown.

The latest positive cases are all from the same household but have not yet been linked to an existing cluster.

“The four new locally-acquired cases are from the same household and investigations into acquisition source are underway,” the state health department tweeted.

Health authorities are expected to provide an update later on Thursday, as Melburnians look forward to their lockdown ending at midnight.

 

There are 78 active cases Victoria, down five from Wednesday.

Some 23,679 Victorians were tested on Wednesday and 20,784 received a vaccine dose at state-run sites.

It comes after Victorian health authorities held an emergency meeting with their Queensland and NSW counterparts over a woman who tested positive and travelled interstate.

The woman left Melbourne with her husband on June 1, when the city was in lockdown. She tested positive on Wednesday, at the end of a road trip through NSW and into Queensland.

Six close contacts of the woman have been identified so far, including her husband. He also tested positive for the virus on Thursday.

The couple is in isolation at the Sunshine Coast University Hospital.

Separately, three people were caught flying into New Zealand last week, after leaving Melbourne during the lockdown and trying to enter the country via Sydney.

The trio, understood to be a family who planned to attend a funeral, are in quarantine after they were caught on arrival in Auckland.

While those travellers have so far tested negative, the woman who tested positive on Wednesday has put regional centres in NSW and Queensland on alert.

Victoria’s health department confirmed an emergency meeting of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee was held on Wednesday night about the case.

The woman and her husband departed from an unidentified suburb on the edge of greater Melbourne.

They travelled through regional Victoria, crossed the border into NSW and journeyed on to Queensland, arriving on June 5 – two days after she started showing coronavirus symptoms.

Queensland chief health officer Jeannette Young said it was possible the woman was infectious from the day she left Melbourne.

Melbourne’s extended “circuit breaker” lockdown is expected to end at 11.59pm on Thursday, meaning people will be free to leave home for any reason.

But Melburnians will need to remain within 25 kilometres of their homes, unless working or studying, caregiving or getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Acting Premier James Merlino said the travel limits were designed to keep Melbourne residents out of regional areas over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

Restrictions will also ease further for regional Victoria from Friday.

-with AAP

Topics: COVID-19
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