BALLARAT has recorded five new COVID-19 cases in the twenty-four hours to midday today.<\/p>\n
Four of the cases were linked to the household of Sunday\u2019s new detection while the fifth is connected to an outbreak in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
While the new cases numbers were the highest in days, Ballarat Health Services and Grampians Public Health Unit infectious diseases expert Dr Aaron Bloch said there was some good news in the numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the moment we don\u2019t have confirmed community transmission within Ballarat,\u201d he said. \u201cWe aren\u2019t seeing random infections being passed on at the supermarket and those sort of interactions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re probably seeing a couple of things in action.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all\u2026 is the really high attack rate of the delta variant. Once it get\u2019s into a household we see the whole household infected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second thing, which I think is a real positive, is if you look at the pattern over the outbreak through Ballarat, we\u2019ve had really effective contract tracing, testing, and isolation.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the five new cases, BHS acting CEO Melanie Robertson said further exposure sites were expected.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose five additional cases will generate, or have generated, exposure sites,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re urging people to check those exposure sites. The more information that we receive, the more tests that we do\u2026 allows us to paint that picture of knowledge that will allow us to get out of lockdown sooner rather than later.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as to when the city might get out of lockdown, with the new cases, and still no second testing results from the Ballarat North wastewater testing site, Dr Bloch was unwilling to make a prediction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe short answer is it\u2019s not a decision made on one metric such as testing numbers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Department [of Health and Human Services] is looking at our situation daily and weighing up whole range of factors.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I can say is, from my perspective, the number of tests we have is never enough. So let\u2019s get our testing rates higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the cases of COVID-19 in the city grow, the pop-up testing site at Federation University has been closed indefinitely.<\/p>\n
Visit our ongoing and constantly updated COVID-19 in Ballarat story<\/strong><\/a> for a list of exposure sites, testing location locations and information.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n