Victorian health authorities are zeroing in on suspected Covid-19 cases picked up through wastewater testing, as they renew a plea for everyone to get tested as soon as symptoms emerge.
Pedestrians in Melbourne's Southbank in July 2021. Photo: AFP
The Australian state of Victoria recorded 45 new Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, just 17 of whom were in quarantine while infectious.
Contact tracers have linked 36 of the cases to existing outbreaks but are still investigating the source of infection for the remaining nine.
The results were detected from among 53,321 test results processed on Tuesday, when a record 31,629 vaccine doses were delivered at state-run sites.
It is the second day in a row that Victoria's new local case numbers have dropped from a high of 71 cases recorded on Sunday.
The percentage of new cases in the community while infectious has also begun to fall slightly.
The rolling three-day average has dropped from 79 percent yesterday to 72 percent today.
Mystery cases
Of particular concern are the ongoing appearance of mystery cases each day, even though contact tracers ultimately discover the links.
Health official Kate Matson said there were a number of mystery cases spread across Hobsons Bay, Hume, Melton, Wyndham, the City of Maribyrnong, Moreland, Monash and Glen Eira.
Matson pleaded with the community to come forward for testing as soon as symptoms emerged, and revealed several recent cases had been symptomatic for "seven or eight days" before getting tested.
She said many of the latest cases in the outbreak were permitted workers in healthcare, construction and other essential industries.
There are now more than 760 Covid-19 exposure sites listed across Victoria, including a tier 2 listing for Queen Victoria Market on Sunday afternoon.
Wastewater alerts across Melbourne's west and north
Health authorities are continuing to issue alerts for wastewater detections in areas that have not recorded recent positive cases.
There have been 13 repeated detections in Sunshine West dating back to 8 August.
Everyone in that area is being encouraged to present for testing, even if they have no symptoms.
Similar wastewater alerts have been issued for Footscray, Seddon, West Footscray, South Kingsville and Spotswood in the west.
In Melbourne's north, authorities are concerned about wastewater detections at Coburg, Coburg North, Fawkner, Hadfield, Preston, Reservoir and Thomastown.
New South Wales has recorded 919 new cases of Covid-19 and two deaths.
Queensland records no new cases
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk also said the two cases from yesterday were re-tested and were "reclassified as not being cases".
"762 people are still currently in home quarantine and once again thank you for doing the right thing and keeping Queenslanders safe. 47 active cases. 4,760 tests in the past 24 hours, so that is once again really good news and can I also thank Queenslanders are coming out and getting tested."
Nine new cases in ACT
Jumping across to the ACT update - the territory has recorded nine new locally acquired COVID-19 cases, taking the total number of cases in the territory's outbreak to 176.
Only three of the new cases were in quarantine for their entire infectious period.
Eight of the new cases are linked to other known cases or exposure sites.
Seven people with the virus are in hospital, with one in intensive care in critical condition.
- ABC