COVID-19: ‘Good news’ as Daniel Andrews announces new testing sites

Victoria will open four or five new COVID-19 testing sites today to cope with a massive surge in the number of people trying to get tested.

New sites will be set up at Noble Park, Monash Health in Clayton, Brighton, and in the CBD.

Authorities are also investigating possible sites in the Bayside area.

It comes as the two household close contacts of the 26-year-old Noble Park tennis quarantine worker who has contracted the virus returned negative tests.

“That is very positive news,” Premier Daniel Andrews said.

Twenty close contacts of the worker have been identified. Health authorities have already contacted 19 of them.

But questions remain about how the worker got the virus.

COVID-19 Quarantine Victoria, the state’s dedicated agency overseeing quarantine, has reviewed days of footage and found the infected worker didn’t breach any protocols, and Mr Andrews says he was a “model employee”.

Anyone who has been at 14 exposure sites has been told to get tested and isolate for 14 days, even if they return a negative result.

But the 520 tennis players and staff who were in quarantine at the Grand Hyatt, where the worker is believed to have contracted the virus, have been told they must only isolate until they receive a negative test result.

“They are casual contacts we are not as concerned about them,” testing chief Jeroen Weimar said.

“There will be a dedicated testing site for them.”

Press PLAY below for part of the press conference and Neil’s reaction.

Press PLAY below to watch the press conference.

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