Some football fans who attended a Sunday afternoon AFL match between Collingwood and Port Adelaide at Melbourne's MCG sports ground may have been exposed to Covid -19.
People queue in their cars at a Covid-19 testing station in Melbourne on 25 May 2021 as the city recorded new coronavirus cases in the community. Photo: AFP
The Victorian Department of Health tweeted on Tuesday evening that one of the nine positive cases attended the match and was seated in the Great Southern Stand of the ground.
The match was attended by just 23,415 AFL fans despite the AFL allowing the MCG to be up to 85 percent full of its maximum capacity of 100,024 fans.
The news came after restrictions were tightened across Greater Melbourne on Tuesday as authorities scrambled to find the missing link in a fresh outbreak, prompting New Zealand to pause a travel bubble with the state of Victoria.
Authorities say the fan was seated in zone four, level one of the ground and those who were seated in a bay between M1 and M16 on their match ticket will be contacted directly by the Health Department, with the advice to isolate until they test negative.
They said CCTV footage would be reviewed to determine if the advice to isolate would need to be applied to other areas of the ground.
Anyone who attended the game and is displaying Covid-19 symptoms is being urged to isolate and get tested.
The Department of Health added that the AFL and MCC have run simulations for this scenario and contact information is linked to ticketing data via QR codes.
The case who attended the match is understood to be one of nine confirmed cases in the current coronavirus cluster.
Eight cases were confirmed on Tuesday with all nine infections recorded so far spread across three households.
Masks now have to be worn at all indoor settings by adults and children aged over 12.
Caps on private gatherings have been reduced with only five visitors allowed per day to a household, while outdoor events such as picnics or barbecues have a limit of 30 people.
ABC reporter Nicole Asher said more restrictions were likely to be announced today in relation to big events.
"There might be some kind of crowd caps at the very least," she told Morning Report.
"People will be wearing their masks today so that'll be a really obvious sign that things aren't quite normal" - ABC reporter Nicole Asher
Though there was concern about the football match, and that the cases announced on Tuesday had been out in the community for the better part of a week, Melbourne had improved its handling of outbreaks since the second wave last year.
"We're much better at this now - the contact tracers are better, everybody knows how it all works, I think the community is quicker to react. If we can't get on top of it a bit better this time it would be a significant worry."
Testing sites across the northern part of Melbourne had been ramped up. Asher said.
Second incident to impact AFL
The AFL has already been affected by the current outbreak with Western Bulldogs players and staff currently in isolation, pending negative Covid-19 tests.
A club staff member had attended the Highpoint Shopping Centre in Melbourne's western suburbs, where some stores are listed as Tier 1 exposure sites.
"The Bulldogs cooperated fully with the advice (to test and isolate), in the best interests of public health and safety," the Bulldogs said.
"It is expected that players and staff will be able to return to training on Wednesday, pending the negative test results being received overnight."
Acting Victorian Premier James Merlino had previously said the government would need more time to make a call on further restrictions relating to sporting events and a decision had not yet been made about attendance at AFL games in rounds 11 and 12.
- ABC / RNZ