Status: Active
Date issued: 3 March 2020 - (Update to Alert issued 2 March 2020)
Issued by: Adjunct Clinical Professor Brett Sutton, Chief Health Officer, Victoria
Issued to: Clinicians and the Victorian public
Key messages
- The department has confirmed a case of COVID-19 in a returned traveller from Iran. The case returned to Melbourne on Malindo Air flight OD177 from Bali arriving at 6:00am on 28 February 2020 and was seated in seat 5C.
- A further confirmed case of COVID-19 arrived into Melbourne on Singapore Airlines flight SQ237 from Singapore arriving at 10:50am on 29 February 2020.
- Any passengers on either of these flights who become unwell should seek medical attention and call ahead to let their doctor know they may have been exposed to COVID-19.
- There are now four countries identified as higher risk for COVID-19, and these countries are mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Iran, Italy and South Korea. Any healthcare worker or residential aged care worker who has been in these four countries in the previous 14 days should not attend work until they have been well for 14 days after leaving those countries.
- A further six countries have also been identified as moderate risk for COVID-19, and these countries are Cambodia, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. There is no requirement for workers who are well who have returned from these countries to stay off work.
- Any person with a compatible illness who meets the case definition should be treated as a suspected case and notified to the department. This includes travellers to any of the ten countries on either the higher risk or moderate risk groups, although any returned traveller with respiratory illness may be considered for testing.
- Further information has been added to the case definition to capture people with significant respiratory infections, regardless of travel.
- Additional border measures now include people who have been in, or transited through, Iran since 1 March 2020. People who have been in Iran in the last 14 day are required to self-isolate until 14 days after leaving Iran.
- A fourth Victorian passenger from the Diamond Princess has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been repatriated to Victoria to continue their care in isolation.
- There have now been 9 confirmed cases in Victoria, including four passengers from the Diamond Princess.
- New South Wales has confirmed the first case of locally acquired COVID-19 in a person with no travel or contact with known cases. The case is a healthcare worker.
Read the full alert: 2019-Coronavirus-disease (COVID-19) - Update - 3 March 2020
Authorised by the Victorian Government, 1 Treasury Place, Melbourne.