Victoria records 13 new coronavirus cases as an infected family travels from Melbourne to popular Queensland holiday island and lockdown extension looms
Victoria has recorded 13 new Covid-19 cases while a family of tourists who travelled from the state to a Queensland holiday island have been placed into quarantine.
The new cases came after 54,839 tests were conducted and 14,758 vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours. There are now 81 active cases.
A family of six were also escorted by police off Hamilton Island, in Queensland's Whitsundays, on Sunday.
It was revealed they had left Victoria just before the state was plunged into a snap-five day lockdown on Friday.
Victoria has recorded 13 new Covid-19 cases while a family of tourists travelled from Covid-ravaged Melbourne to a popular Queensland holiday island
They are considered to be close contacts of a Covid-19 positive case in Victoria.
The group were taken back to mainland Queensland and two of the family members were placed into 14-day private quarantine.
The remaining four have been taken to Prosperine Hospital where they will be tested before they are reunited with their family in isolation.
A Hamilton Island spokeswoman said the group had been isolating in their rooms, before they got tested for Covid-19 and returned a negative result.
'As a precaution, Queensland Health advised that they would need to be moved to a designated hotel quarantine facility on the mainland,' she said.
'Queensland Health has advised there is no concern for the community or other guests.'
Queensland Health said in a statement the family had left Victoria before lockdown orders came into effect on Friday.
'All persons who have been to an interstate exposure site and identified as close contacts will be required to isolate, get tested and await further advice from Queensland Health,' a spokeswoman said.
All the new cases recorded in Victoria are linked to the current outbreaks of the Delta variant in the state, which originated in New South Wales.
The state also recorded one new infection acquired overseas.
Stay-at-home orders are due to expire at midnight on Tuesday but Premier Daniel Andrews has warned they could be extended.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said further case numbers and exposure sites would determine whether the lockdown would be extended.
"Every Victorian needs to ready themselves for what might emerge over the next 24/48 hours," he said on Sunday.
"All I can say is the response couldn't have been better. The judgements that have been made around a hard and fast lockdown have been the right ones. And that's got us on a good track."
Authorities estimated over the weekend that there were 10,000 "primary close contacts" in Victoria and by Sunday morning had identified 217 potential COVID-19 exposure sites across the state, some regional.
More exposure sites were announced late on Sunday, including a number of restaurants, cafes and fitness centres across sites across Melbourne's north and south-east, and a Shell petrol station in Doncaster East.
More to come
