Source: ABCnews
Victoria has recorded one new local COVID-19 case as health authorities try to get more information about where a group of removalists visited while in Victoria.
The case is a primary close contact who was in quarantine during their infectious period.
It is not yet known whether the case is linked to the removalists, or to a family in Craigieburn which had so far recorded three positive test results out of four family members.
There were 33,037 test results received yesterday, and 14,989 doses of vaccine were administered at state-run sites.
Last night, a service station and fast food outlet at Kalkallo on the Hume Highway, north of Melbourne, were added to Victoria’s list of COVID-19 exposure sites.
The removalists, who tested positive in New South Wales after returning from Victoria last week, stopped at the Caltex service station at Kalkallo and purchased food at the Hungry Jack’s outlet at the venue on July 8.
Yesterday, Victoria’s COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said conversations with the removalists remained “challenging and complex”, adding they were not being as forthcoming as he would have hoped.
“We always say in every contact tracing interview we do, fulsome early information helps us move really, really quickly. That is not the case in this instance,” he said.
War of words continues over financial support
Victoria’s Tourism and Major Events Minister, Martin Pakula, has joined state government colleagues in attacking the Commonwealth over its financial support package for New South Wales.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has defended the extra Commonwealth support announced for New South Wales, dismissing claims the state is receiving more help than Victoria did during its most recent lockdown.
“When Victoria needed Australia [during last year’s lockdown], they were getting $750 million of Commonwealth support every week. This package to New South Wales is delivering half a billion a week,” Mr Morrison said.
But Mr Pakula accused the federal government of moving more quickly to support New South Wales, and refusing to criticise that state’s government in the same way it criticised Victoria’s handling of COVID outbreaks.
“We saw right throughout last year a federal government pile-on, led by Treasurer [Josh] Frydenberg, and what we’re seeing in New South Wales is support and comfort,” he said.
“For the Commonwealth to be suggesting there’s any comparison between the two I think it’s clearly, unmistakeably not the case,” he said.
