Shepparton Villages announced on Monday night an employee from its Maculata Place facility had tested positive.“We immediately put Maculata Place into complete lockdown and isolated residents to their rooms,” a Facebook post said.“Staff are in full PPE and following all protocols, and all residents were tested today.“It is unclear as to whether the staff member was infectious while at Maculata Place and we await further information re this from the Department of Health.”It comes after cases in Greater Shepparton continued to grow just days after the town was released from lockdown.There were 15 new cases announced by health authorities on Monday taking the active number of cases beyond 130.It comes after a member of the recently merged Greater Shepparton Secondary College’s Invergordon campus tested positive.The case was in attendance on Thursday, October 7 but there had only been minimal number of staff and students on site during this time.In a letter sent out to parents and carers, executive principal Barbara O’Brien said the school would be closed for deep cleaning.On Friday night, the region breathed a sigh of relief after it was released from lockdown.Victoria’s chief health officer professor Brett Sutton declared Greater Shepparton would return to the same settings as other parts of regional Victoria from 11.59pm on Friday night. Public health officials said they were confident the seven-day lockdown slowed the potential growth of the town’s latest outbreak.“The people of Greater Shepparton have risen to the challenge of lockdown once again and their hard work has helped to slow the growth in cases,” professor Sutton said.“I really thank everyone in the community for staying safe, staying apart, and doing the right thing.“If you have symptoms in the coming days, make sure you still get a COVID-19 test – and if you haven’t already, then getting vaccinated is the most important thing you can do to protect yourself and your family.”The news comes just hours after a new vaccination drive was launched in Shepparton on Friday as 5000 eligible people who are yet to receive the jab are urged to come forward.According to most recent available data, in the Shepparton area, more than 90 per cent of the population have had their first dose of the Covid vaccine and more than 56 per cent have had both.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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