Health authorities confirmed 14 of the 87 cases recorded in regional Victoria overnight came from Shepparton.The number active of cases now sits at 67 — it is the same number as the City of La Trobe emerged from lockdown at midnight.On Monday, Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative has confirmed a positive Covid case in its community.Rumbalara confirmed a member of the community had tested positive on Monday morning.“This is sad news and our thoughts are with them and their family,” the co-operative said in a Facebook statement.“Can we please encourage all community to watch for symptoms and if you have any concern, please get tested.“To support this we will be opening up our drive through testing service again.”It comes as the state government announced the Victorian Aboriginal Controlled Community Health Organisation would be sending its new vaccine vans to Shepparton to boost the vaccination rate among Aboriginal people.Shepparton has the largest indigenous population outside of Melbourne.The region was plunged into its eighth lockdown on Friday night — just weeks after restrictions lifted.About 450 people are now isolating and there are 53 active cases in the community.Goulburn Valley Health chief executive Matt Sharp said it was concerning the cases were spread across households which suggested people were not following lockdown restrictions.Mr Sharp said that needed to stop immediately.“We don’t want people visiting friends and family … we don’t encourage that at all because we know that is how it is spreading,” he said.On Saturday morning the Victorian Government said an illegal grand final party was partly to blame for Shepparton’s second outbreak.“There are other people we know that are positive at that particular event,” Victorian Covid response commander Jeroen Weimar said.“There are a number of exposure sites across Shepparton and Yarrawonga as a result.”There were 73 new Covid cases announced in regional Victoria on Monday.NED-4476-Covid-19-Vaccine-Rates-VictoriaHow Shepparton became the centre of a Covid outbreakOn the night of August 12 Shepparton, a country town in the state’s northeast, was blissfully unaware what was around the corner.Covid had been detected in the town’s wastewater for days but no one could have predicted the Goulburn Valley would become the hotspot that plunged regional Victoria back into lockdown.On Friday morning, August 20, Shepparton had recorded its first Covid case in more than 300 days.By Friday afternoon, 11 more were added to the tally.By 8pm that skyrocketed to 17.On Saturday afternoon, Goulburn Valley Health’s boss stood in front of media to officially place the community on high alert as another four were added — with more likely to come.Alarmingly, he said most of those infected were children.“We are working as hard as we can,” Mr Sharp said.“(The number of people isolating is) going to be in the thousands. I’d expect more people to test positive.“Based on what we’re seeing it’s probably more than likely the Delta strain.”Mr Sharp said the original case was still being investigated but his resources had been significantly impacted with at least 100 of his workers isolating.Greater Shepparton City Council mayor Kim O’Keeffe said she was concerned for the community but urged people to be strong.“The community is concerned because we have seen the increase in numbers,” she said.“But we are doing everything we need to be doing.“I am really proud of our community. We’ve certainly shown in the past (when Shepparton had its first cluster in late 2019) and we’re doing it again.“It is so important that our community is well informed. It’s important that we feel connected to each other.”Shepparton’s outbreak forced regional Victoria back into lockdown last month but Cr O’Keeffe said it needed to be done.“When numbers are rising that’s exactly what we need to do,” she said.“The quicker we lockdown, the quicker we get out.“If we didn’t do that we would be in a much worse situation moving forward. Of course it’s devastating for our businesses but health needs to be our priority.”
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