Victoria virus cases rise to six

She said the three additional cases were uncovered through contact tracing after three positive cases were discovered in Victoria on Wednesday.The first three cases were linked by a Thai restaurant in Black Rock that was also linked to a NSW returned traveller, Health Minister Martin Foley said. “In less than 24 hours, the crossover between the Mitcham and the Hallam and the Mentone people has been a facility in Black Rock, and a direct link to a NSW returned traveller,“ he said.“Now that we’ve got links to the NSW outbreak here in Victoria, we’re responding really, really quickly to get on top of that.” The three additional cases on Thursday were linked to that cluster and were uncovered through contact tracing, he said.Anyone who visited that Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant on December 21 is urged to get tested immediately. The first three cases come from the Melbourne suburbs of Mitcham, Hallam and Mentone — all of whom visited the same venue in Black Rock, it has been revealed. Victoria’s Commander of COVID-19 response Jeroen Weimar said the state was “deploying our full outbreak approach”. “We have been in this position before,” he said.
“Extensive contact tracing is underway and as a result there are currently more than 40 primary close contacts that are being supported to isolate immediately.”
He said the three positive cases are self-isolating at home. They are two women in their 40s and a woman in her 70s.

Five locations have been designated high risk, after they were visited by the COVID-positive people while they were potentially infectious:Black Rock: Smile Buffalo Thai restaurant on December 21 Doveton: Holy Family Parish Doveton Catholic Church on December 26 between 4pm and 6pmFountain Gate Shopping Centre: Kmart, Big W, Target, Millers, King of Gifts, Lacoste on December 26 between 9am and 11amMentone: Mentone/Parkdale Beach on December 27 between 10am and 4.30pmGlen Waverley: Century City Walk and Mocha Jo’s on December 28 between 1.30pm and 5pmOakleigh: Katialo restaurant, Eaton Mall on December 28 between 7pm and 8.15pm Victoria also introduced new border restrictions on Wednesday. Anyone who has been in or visited the Blue Mountains or Wollongong regions from 27 December has until 11.59 on New Year’s Eve to get to Victoria. Nobody who has visited these areas will be able to enter Victoria after December 31.Anyone intending to return to Victoria from these areas before midnight must apply for a new travel permit through Service Victoria, must get tested within 24 hours of returning to Victoria, and must self-quarantine at home for 14 days from when they last left the region.It follows one woman testing positive last week after returning from a trip to the northern beaches, Sydney’s COVID-19 epicentre. Other positive COVID-19 cases in Victoria recorded in the past two months were from returned travellers in hotel quarantine.