Lockdown is looming in the state of Victoria as the Holiday Inn cluster increases. Two more people have reportedly contracted COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.
Update: Premier Dan Andrews has announced that Victoria will enter a snap five-day, stage 4 lockdown from midnight tonight (February 12) until midnight Wednesday (February 17).
A potential third-wave of COVID-19 is right around the corner for Victoria, with the Holiday-Inn cluster now reaching thirteen cases. The cluster, which spread amongst people in hotel quarantine, has now infiltrated into the general public.
State health officials are concerned about the rapid spread of the hotel cluster, with thoughts that the outbreak could the extremely infectious UK variant of COVID-19.
The latest cases are linked back to close contacts of original infections. The cases include a hotel worker and the spouses of other workers. This recent outbreak is the first time that Victoria has seen a community outbreak outside of hotel transmission since the second wave of COVID-19 last year.
At a press conference on Thursday, Professor Paul Kelly announced that the recent outbreak was “not ideal” for the Victorian state. “What you describe there is not ideal. Of course, we want quarantine to be exactly that, to separate people from the wider community to minimise the chances of the virus spreading.”
Reduce the number of workers going to office and ban house gatherings immediately, this is going to be a large outbreak
— Dr. The Week After Next (@theweekafternxt) February 10, 2021
A potential lockdown has not been announced yet, but some Australian states are acting quick, closing their borders to Victoria. Queensland are set to reinstate border closure this coming Sunday (February 14th) and South Australia have closed their borders to anyone from Greater Melbourne.
