Two family contacts of an infected Melbourne hotel quarantine worker have tested negative to coronavirus.
Health authorities also have spoken to 19 of 20 close contacts as testing sites in Melbourne’s south-east experienced lengthy queues on Thursday morning.
“[It is] early stages, but that is positive news,” Premier Daniel Andrews said of the two negative tests.
More testing sites are due to be set up later in the day.
Victorian Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said “it’s not rocket science” that the man caught the virus from a positive case in hotel quarantine.
Mr Andrews added there had been no obvious breach of hotel quarantine protocols, adding the infected worker is a “model employee”.
Australian Open preparations are on hold because of Melbourne’s latest coronavirus scare, with 520 players and staff having to isolate and undergo testing.
All play was suspended at Melbourne Park on Thursday, with the tournament due to start in four days.
Another 600 work contacts of the infected man also have been told to isolate and get tested.
Victorians must again wear face masks and limit household gatherings after the hotel worker’s positive test.
The 26-year-old man from Noble Park in the city’s southeast visited numerous public places and shops before returning a positive test on Wednesday.
He had been employed as a “resident support worker” at Melbourne’s Grand Hyatt, where scores of international tennis players have been quarantining after arriving for the Australian Open. He worked his most recent shift last Friday.
Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien said the government must make a call in the next couple of days about whether the Open could go ahead.
“We don’t want to see a situation as we did (last year) with the Grand Prix, where crowds were literally turning out to be let in, only to be turned away,” he said. “The government needs to decide whether it is safe for the Australian Open to proceed.”
It’s not yet known if the man is carrying a potent offshore variant of the virus.
A supermarket and hotel are among six locations that the Department of Health and Human Services added to the exposure sites in early-morning tweets.
A number of hotel quarantine security guards last year contracted COVID-19, sparking Victoria’s second wave of coronavirus, which killed hundreds of people and led to months of lockdown.
Health authorities are awaiting further genomic test results to confirm the origin of the man’s virus. Those results are expected on Friday.
On Wednesday, health authorities confirmed the transmission of a coronavirus case between guests in separate hotel quarantine rooms.
Two separate groups of guests in opposite rooms at Melbourne’s Park Royal Hotel tested positive for the more infectious UK variant of the coronavirus.
Some 100 hotel quarantine staff members and 37 returned travellers who have completed their 14 days on the impacted floor are now self-isolating at home. None have yet tested positive.
Also on Thursday morning, the DHHS confirmed the infected hotel worker is a locally-acquired case, breaking the state’s 28-day clean slate.
There are also two new cases in hotel quarantine, with 21 active cases and 13,675 tests.
Meanwhile, South Australia will keep its border open with Victoria but has imposed new testing requirements for people travelling from Greater Melbourne.
Premier Steven Marshall says those people will be required to have a coronavirus test on days one, five and 12 and will be asked to isolate until they receive a negative result from the first test.
However, any who attended at the Grand Hyatt Hotel since 28 January will be placed in hotel quarantine for 14 days.
Other people who visited a range of locations of concern across Melbourne will also be asked to self-isolate.
People in Australia must stay at least 1.5 metres away from others. Check your jurisdiction’s restrictions on gathering limits.
If you are experiencing cold or flu symptoms, stay home and arrange a test by calling your doctor or contact the Coronavirus Health Information Hotline on 1800 020 080. News and information is available in 63 languages at sbs.com.au/coronavirus.
Please check the relevant guidelines for your state or territory: NSW, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory, ACT, Tasmania.
