Victoria Records 2 Cases of COVID-19 From Family Returning From NSW

Jeroen Weimar of DHHS at a press conference in Melbourne, Australia on Oct. 14, 2020. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

Two members of a Melbourne family have tested positive after returning from NSW on red zone permits.

The state’s COVID Commander Jeroen Weimar said three of the family of four from the City of Hume arrived on July 4 by air and the other returned by car on July 8.

They all initially tested negative, but two became symptomatic and were tested on Sunday, with the results coming back positive on Monday.

Contact tracers are also on high alert after at least one member of a three-man removalist crew who travelled through Victoria and SA from NSW tested positive for the virus.

Another family from Whittlesea in Melbourne’s north who had contact with the COVID-infected removalist has so far tested negative.

They relocated to Victoria from interstate and tested negative on July 9.

Weimar said the family remain in isolation and will be tested again on Monday.

Contact tracers are working to establish the removalist’s movements. However, it is believed he travelled from Sydney to Melbourne via the Hume Highway and worked at several homes in the city before travelling to SA.

NSW Health alerted Victoria’s authorities late on Sunday night.

Removalists are permitted workers under the state’s border permit system.

It comes after Victoria recorded its 12th day of no locally acquired cases with the state effectively shut the border to NSW and the ACT overnight, declaring them red zones under the travel permit system from 11.59 p.m. on Sunday.

NSW reported 112 new local cases on Monday, it’s highest daily total since the Bondi cluster emerged on June 16.

Queenslanders Told to Come Home

Meanwhile, the Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczukhas has told residents in NSW to return home while they still can, warning Sydney’s coronavirus crisis could force her to close the border with little notice.

Currently, the premier of the sunshine state has opted to keep the border open.

But she’s been direct with Queenslanders who are south of the border, saying she’s dealing with a volatile situation that could see Queenslanders shut out if the virus spreads from Greater Sydney into regional NSW.

“My message to Queenslanders is if you are in those areas, come home. I can’t be any clearer,” she said on Monday.

Sydney residents have been told there’s next to no chance their lockdown will end as scheduled on Friday.

The state had 112 new local COVID-19 cases on Monday—the highest number since the current outbreak began. At least 46 of those cases were out in the community while they were infectious.