Just hours after Victoria's latest lockdown was lifted at midnight on Tuesday, there was an unwelcome development.
A mystery case was discovered in a COVID-testing site worker from the Moonee Valley racetrack.
The case has now been linked to the current outbreaks, but public health teams are racing to trace the man's movements and try to learn when and where he contracted the virus.
Here’s what we know.
When he tested positive and where he went
The man worked as a traffic controller at the drive-through Moonee Valley COVID testing centre and developed symptoms on Monday night.
He was tested on Tuesday and his positive test result was returned on Wednesday morning.
The Moonee Valley Racetrack testing centre was closed and workers identified as contacts were quarantined.
But authorities remain unsure of how he contracted the virus.
Genomic testing results have now confirmed the recent mystery case is linked to the current outbreaks.
It was confirmed there had been some positive cases at the testing site, but the worker wore appropriate PPE and had limited contact with other people.
Yesterday, authorities revealed the man had visited his partner at a low-rise apartment complex in Newport in Melbourne's south-west.
His partner, several members of his household and his close social circle have already returned a negative test result, which acting Victorian COVID-19 response commander Naomi Bromley described as "very encouraging".
ABC News: Darryl Torpy
)Authorities said residents of the Newport apartment building were being tested and were waiting for further instructions from authorities.
An Altona North Woolworths and a Yarraville 7-Eleven are among several exposure sites listed for the past few days in response to the man's movements.
Other sites were listed around Frankston and Baxter.
What the authorities say
Premier Daniel Andrews said authorities were acting quickly to reduce the risk of the virus spreading to others.
"Whenever you've got an unlinked case, it's obviously of concern, but we've done full interviews with that person, we've got a good sense of where he was, who he was with, and we're doing the usual contact tracing work," Mr Andrews said before the results of the genomic testing were announced.
Public health authorities said they were taking a "very precautionary approach" to the case.
Acting Chief Health Officer Ben Cowie said testing centre staff had been furloughed and tested and investigators were working to determine if it was "an occupational exposure or an exposure in the community".
"It's an important point that this individual was not having really close contact with people coming through the testing site," Professor Cowie said.
"As someone who was assisting to direct traffic [he had] really limited contact with individuals attending for testing … and was wearing appropriate protective equipment at all times."
Professor Cowie said authorities were attempting to find the "smoking gun" that would confirm where the transmission took place, but he cautioned it may not be possible.
He said that was because the state's recent cases were "clonal populations" stemming from the same source of the Delta variant from the NSW "incursion".
"They're all highly related to each other which makes it more complicated to try to identify linkages between two individuals".
Meanwhile, authorities said they believed the worker had not been vaccinated.
Professor Cowie said all workers at COVID-19 testing sites had been eligible to be vaccinated since February 22.
"Everyone who is eligible, we ask them to come forward to be vaccinated as soon as possible."
ABC News
)What this could mean for the outbreak?
It's too soon to say.
But Professor Cowie said Victoria was continuing to move back to "COVID-normal".
"I don't see any reason why, in the short-term, our restrictions will change on the basis of this individual case," he said.
"We are moving back towards COVID-normal in a very steady and measured way," he said.
But he said "COVID-19 is in our community still".
He warned further cases would "pop up in the coming weeks and months and there will also be further incursions potentially from interstate."
The Premier urged all Victorians to regularly check the list of exposure sites and get tested if necessary.
"We'll get our arms around this, it's a bit challenging, you'd rather not have a mystery case … it was a very long night but we've had good, full detailed interview with him and we've well and truly started the process of contact tracing," Mr Andrews said.
"We're well and truly around it, it's just a matter of making sure that we chase down every single lead."
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2021-07-29 14:12:59Z
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