The latest outbreak consists of three family members, three hotel workers and two returned travellers.
Two more cases were confirmed late yesterday, both with links to the same hotel.
The source of transmission was likely a medical device known as a nebuliser, which was used by a COVID-positive guest.
Emergency physician Dr Stephen Parnis told Today said they were no longer used in most hospitals and are not allowed in hotel quarantine.
The device turns a liquid, usually a drug to treat diseases like asthma, into a vapour meant to go down the patient's air way into their lungs, he said.
"When it was presented in the news that a person who was COVID positive was using a nebuliser, I think we all took a deep breath and thought 'My goodness, how could this possibly have happened?'" Dr Parnis told Today.
"I think what it shows even though this has gotten through the screening processes, just one example has led to an outbreak and it shows how incessant the risks are in hotel quarantine of COVID getting through and getting out into one of our communities and it's happened pretty much in every state and territory, except for the Northern Territory.
"It says to me that there are so many steps in an incredibly complex process and sometimes the breakdown of one of those steps, the screening of the hotel guests' luggage, was a way that one of these things got through.
"That worries me as a doctor, but as a person who deals in complex systems, I can understand how it happens, but the most important thing is that we learn from this, get this outbreak under control and make sure that this one doesn't happen again."
President of the Australian Medical Association's Victorian branch Julian Rait said the use of the nebuliser in hotel quarantine was "disconcerting".
"It beggars belief that something like this could get through," Dr Rait told Today.
"The medical community knows full well these particular devices are really COVID spreaders.
"But I think also the fact that the ventilation controls in that particular hotel were really not up to scratch. Over seven months ago, there was concern expressed by aerosol scientists who wrote to the World Health Organisation and said aerosols needed to be taken more seriously.
"In Victoria, after the second wave, we thought we had succeeded in persuading government about that.
"The knowledge is well and truly well known that ventilation control is an essential part of preventing the spread of COVID-19, especially in healthcare settings. It is disappointing that information hasn't been necessarily fully shared with COVID-19 quarantine Victoria, which is the branch responsible for hotel quarantine."
Victoria's Department of Health reported two new exposure sites and times for anyone who attended the locations on Tuesday, February 9. They include:
Commonwealth Bank, Glen Waverley: 1.30pm - 2.45pm
HSBC Bank, Glen Waverley: 2.15pm - 3.30pm
A number of sites in Sunbury, including several stores and eateries at Sunbury Square, have previously been identified after a food and beverage worker at the Holiday Inn returned a positive test on Tuesday.
Yesterday, two more infections were confirmed - one in a returned traveller and the second in another Holiday Inn staff member.
Residents of the Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn have since been evacuated from the hotel and have been moved to the Pullman Hotel in Melbourne's CBD, where their quarantine stay may be extended.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMipAFodHRwczovL3d3dy45bmV3cy5jb20uYXUvbmF0aW9uYWwvY29yb25hdmlydXMtbWVsYm91cm5lLXRlc3RpbmctYmxpdHotYXMtaG9saWRheS1pbm4tY2x1c3Rlci1ncm93cy1uZXctZXhwb3N1cmUtc2l0ZXMtbmV3LWNhc2VzLzhhMWU2N2Y5LWRmMzYtNDNkNC1iMmNlLWFmMjA5YmUxYTU3MNIBRWh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLjluZXdzLmNvbS5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzhhMWU2N2Y5LWRmMzYtNDNkNC1iMmNlLWFmMjA5YmUxYTU3MA?oc=5
2021-02-10 21:00:00Z
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