Thread by @CroakeyNews

Latest on #victorialockdown from @MartinFoleyMP

21 active cases in Victoria, 3 new notified in past 24 hours, 2 local: both linked to Holiday Inn cluster (16) - a child and a woman, both attended function in Sydney Road, Coburg. New exposure sites.

dhhs.vic.gov.au/case-locations…

Of 940 primary close contacts of Holiday Inn cluster, 129 are direct family, workplace and other immediate close contacts. Of them, 127 have tested negative, other results due shortly.

Minister Foley says Victoria's contact tracing performance over past week has reached/exceeded national benchmarks.

For 10 Feb, 98.7% of new primary close contacts were contacted within 48 hours. 9 Feb 98%. 8 Feb 98.7%. 7 Feb 99.2%

Are collated here: health.gov.au/resources/coll…

On pathology capacity, Foley says 20k+ tests daily over the past week.

Average time from arriving at testing site to being interviewed by contact tracing is 17 hours.

Testing process capacity since Oct has more than tripled in Vic's 8 public labs.

Foley says 5 new high volume machines at heart of Victoria's increased pathology capacity.

Across public/private partner labs, can process 30k tests a day and provide more than 80pc of results within 24 hours.

Jeroen Weimar: Have closed out a number of key lines of enquiry in Holiday Inn outbreak: 2 schools, RAAF site at Pt Cook, Coates Hire at Weribee - all returned neg results.

Brunetti exposure: pleased to confirm all 12 work colleagues returned neg results.

34 customers: 19 are interstate, being supported by their own public health units. 13 of the 15 in Victoria have returned negative. Speaking to all who passed through Terminal 4.

Not sure if mother of a 3 year old who has tested positive is a new case - she has returned 3 different results in past 24 hours. Serology being done. She has workplace contacts with Alfred Health, doing precautionary testing there now.

Weimar: 38 people at the Coburg function on 6 Feb.

Was a CQV staff member there who was not known to be positive at the time. Had tested neg on 7 Feb, been reviewed, test is now a weak positive.

All people tested, 4 now tested positive, one possible.

They believe CQV staff member was exposed at Holiday Inn on 3, 4 Feb.

She tested negative on both of those days.

Coburg social gathering 6 Feb, immediate transmission to a number of people.

Weimar points to rapid nature of this strain.

Now @VictorianCHO re UK strain:

Original COVID-19 out of Wuhan infected 2.5 people for every case. Exponential growth.

Now looking at a virus B117 that 40-70pc more infectious.

Is still only a minority of individuals who pass it on. Many don't.

"To be a weak positive but be infectious enough to actually cause infection in others is very unusual," says @VictorianCHO. "We have to accept reality of that, be agile in response, wrap public health response around everyone who was (at the event)."

Vic Govt has issued media statement on its testing capacity (outlined earlier by @MartinFoleyMP)

premier.vic.gov.au/massive-expans…