Tara Murray
A COVID-19 outbreak in Caroline Springs remains a major area of concern, prompting calls for more locals to get tested.
The number of cases linked to CS Square Shopping Centre has grown to 25, after another 10 were announced this morning.
The centre has been listed as a tier two site between July 27 and August 5, with anyone who was at the site during that time required to get tested.
A number of stores and locations within the centre are tier one sites.
A staff member who works at the Spectacle Hub was the first case at the centre.
Of the cases announced on Tuesday, four are linked to YPA Real Estate, with three workers and a household contact testing positive.
Three are linked to the Jolly Miller Cafe, one is a worker at Pacific Smiles Dentist, while two others have attended the shopping centre.
Department of Health deputy secretary Kate Matson said the department was unsure whether those last two cases caught the virus through fleeting contact or through a connection with a positive case in one of the stores.
She said 1100 people linked to the shopping centre had been tested, with 67 per cent having returned a negative test so far.
Victorian COVID commander Jeroen Weimar said the outbreak at the shopping centre was currently the greatest area of concern.
“We’ve now seen 25 cases associated with the Caroline Springs Square shopping centre, across a number of different units, retail units and people and some are household contacts,” he said.
“We listed yesterday the entirety of the shopping centre as a tier two site. I would again urge everyone who has been to that shopping centre, to come forward and get tested immediately if you haven’t done so.”
Mr Weimar listed YPA Real Estate, BWS, Aldi, Caroline Springs pharmacy and Spectacle Hub as some of the key locations in the centre.
Two additional testing sites, one at City Vista Sports Precinct and one at the Caroline Springs Leisure Centre, had been set up.
Among the new exposure sites are locations listed overnight are the Cairnlea Town Centre, stores in and around Watergardens Shopping centre, IPC Health in St Albans and locations in Deer Park, Taylors Lakes, Taylors Hill, Tullamarine.
Details: www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/exposure-sites
