Melbourne—Victoria’s La Trobe University will remain open after confirming a coronavirus case on its Melbourne campus.
The university said Thursday a student at its Bundoora campus had been confirmed as having contracted COVID-19.
Following advice from the Department of Health and Human Services, it said teaching, research, and administrative activities would continue.
The student attended classes in the past week, and La Trobe said staff and fellow students who had come into contact had been identified and had been asked to self-isolate.
“The limited number of areas the student visited last week have been deep-cleaned,” the university said.
Another three Victorians were confirmed as having the illness on Wednesday morning after returning from the United States.
Carey Baptist Grammar School in Melbourne’s inner east later reported a second staff member becoming infected, bringing the state’s total cases to 22.
Premier Daniel Andrews says the state control centre has begun coordinating government agencies grappling with the virus outbreak, which has been categorised as a class two emergency.
Class one emergencies include natural disasters like bushfires and floods, while class two includes extreme heat and energy issues.
“The central co-ordination of our response is very important. We’ve learnt that many different times in different circumstances,” Andrews told reporters in Melbourne.
Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said the control centre would collate intelligence on exactly how the issue is unfolding.
“Good information will lead to good decision making,” he said.
Among the latest three infected people was a man in his 50s who returned from Seattle on Saturday on Virgin flight VA24.
He is recovering in home isolation and three close contacts—including two children—are also in quarantine.
The other two cases were on flights which have had confirmed COVID-19 cases this week—UA0600 and QF94—but are understood to have contracted the virus while in the US.
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