May 25, 2021
Brunswick connection in new Covid outbreak
The Covid-positive person visited the Victoria Street futsal centre on Sunday morning
Note: this story was updated at 11.30am on May 26 following additional information becoming public.
AN indoor soccer centre in Brunswick has re-opened following deep cleaning after contact tracers discovered a Covid positive person visited there in the weekend.
The Brunswick Futsal Stadium at 407 Victoria Street was on Tuesday identified as an exposure site as health authorities seek to determine the extent of a new mini-outbreak in the northern suburbs.
The Covid-positive person attended the stadium between 9am and 10am on Sunday, according to the Victorian Health Department.
The stadium was one of a growing list of 10 exposure sites named by the department on Tuesday as another four Covid positive people were discovered, all of them from the same family.
It is believed that the person was a young child who was part of a private group using a rear court at the centre, and did not come into contact with any of the centre’s staff.
It is a tier 2 site, with advice that anyone who was also at the centre during that period should get tested urgently and self-isolate until they get a negative result.
In a statement on its Facebook page, stadium management confirmed it had been notified of the positive case visiting the centre on Sunday.
“All details regarding staff and customers in attendance will be passed on to DHHS and we are conducting a deep clean today,” it said.
“We have been told that once the deep clean is complete we can resume operating.
“Although it was a very small group, the recommendation from DHHS is: If you were at the stadium on Sunday morning from 9am to 10am or you are concerned please get yourself tested.
“Thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you all smiling and enjoying your futsal.”
On Tuesday evening, the centre posted an updated message on Facebook that it had undergone a certified deep clean and was reopening for regular match fixtures. Staff had been tested for Covid and were self-isolating until the results were known.
Concerns about a new outbreak escalated on Friday when the Department of Health testing detected picked up traces of COVID-19 in wastewater around the Epping and Wollert area.
A full public health response and extensive contact tracing has now been launched after four more people have tested positive.
The individuals are a male in their 30s, a male in their 70s, a woman in their 70s and a pre-school aged child. None are believed to live in the city of Moreland.
The cases are all family contacts, across three households and authorities are investigating whether they connected to a traveller who had returned from overseas and became infected while in hotel quarantine in Adelaide. That case was detected on May 10.
Anyone experiencing symptoms of COVID-19 — such as fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, chills or sweats, or change in sense of smell or taste — is advised to get a test immediately. A full list of testing sites is available here.
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