VICTORIA will enter another snap lockdown from 8pm tonight following a growing cluster of COVID-19 cases in Melbourne's west.
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Eight new case were reported in the state today, with the source of four of those unknown.
The lockdown will last a week as Premier Daniel Andrews warns he will do "everything we can" to avoid a "NSW-style" outbreak.
"There's no alternative," Premier Andrews said on Thursday afternoon.
"If we were to wait even just a few days there's every chance instead of getting locked down for a week, and this gets away from us, we are potentially locked down until we're all vaccinated and that's months away."
Once again there will only be five reasons to leave home.
He said the snap lockdown was starting at 8pm instead of midnight to avoid people going out and spreading the virus tonight.
"This evening go home, and begin that lockdown. Don't be out and about because all you might be doing is spreading the virus," he said.
"I would prefer we didn't have to make this decision now. But my fear is if we were to wait a few days - and the advice to me from the experts if we were to wait even just a few days - there is every chance [that] instead of being locked down for a week, this gets away from us.
"A person in their 20s died yesterday in Sydney. This is relevant to everybody, nobody wants to get this.
"If you have have symptoms, and with so little cold and flu going around, if you've got symptoms you've got COVID.
"That's what you have to assume and that means you have to go and get tested.
"Don't wait an hour, don't wait an afternoon, and certainly don't wait days.
"That's where cases run wild and no contact tracing can pull it up; each day gets worse rather than better."
Officials are concerned that the infected teacher at Al-Taqwa College and three new cases linked to her may have spread in the several days they were infectious in the community.
The source of those infections, as well as a new case located in Maribyrnong, are unknown.
Regional Victoria has been included following a positive COVID-19 detection in wastewater in Wangaratta.
Only five reasons to leave home for the next week
This means from 8pm tonight, there are only five reasons to leave home: getting the food and the supplies you need, exercising for up to two hours, care or caregiving, authorised work or education if you can't do it from home, or to get vaccinated at the nearest possible location.
Shopping and exercise must be done within 5km of your home or the nearest location.
Face masks will remain mandatory indoors (not at home) and outdoors unless an exception applies - this includes all workplaces and secondary schools.
Private gatherings are not permitted except for an intimate partner or nominated person visits. Public gatherings are not permitted. Exercise is limited to two people.
Childcare and Early Childhood Care will remain open. Schools will close, with primary and secondary school students returning to remote learning - except for vulnerable children, and the children of authorised workers who can learn on site.
Where a parent or carer indicates that a student with a disability cannot learn from home due to vulnerability or family stress, the school must provide on-site learning for that student. This will apply to students enrolled in specialist schools and students with a disability enrolled in mainstream schools.
Higher education students will also return to remote learning, except for learning programs allowed on the Authorised Premises and Authorised Workers (APAW) List.
There are no changes to the current arrangements for border communities.
"There are no alternatives to lockdown, if you wait it will spread," Premier Andrews said.
Earlier, 12pm: A sixth lockdown is being considered for Victoria as health authorities race to trace a mystery outbreak that emerged in Melbourne's west.
Victoria's health department has added more than a dozen new COVID-19 exposure sites to the state's list after six new cases were detected yesterday and two today.
The venues are in suburbs in Melbourne's west, including Caroline Springs, Altona North, Spotswood, and Newport.
Victorian Health Minister Martin Foley said today's numbers are a reminder the virus has not gone away.
He said all options are on the table when asked if a three-day lockdown is on the table.
Three of the six cases today relate to the known Moonee Valley case and have been isolating during their infectious period.
Of the other three, one is a case identified late yesterday in Maribyrnong. The source of infection is unknown.
The other is a Truganina teacher who resides in Hobsons Bay and one of their close contacts.
Those three are unlinked to the current outbreak, causing concern for contact tracers.
Mr Foley also confirmed that a Newport Football Club player who became infected is a primary household contact of the teacher from Al-Taqwa College. Two more infections have been detected in his household and will be added to tomorrow's tally.
"We would forecast there will be more exposure sites listed," Minister Foley said on Thursday.
"We are urgently testing the people who are closest to the three unlinked cases... to make sure we understand the patterns of potential transmission of the virus.
"We've always said we will continue to assess the outbreaks and the COVID pandemic on a day-by-day basis and we know that things turn very quickly.
"We will be guided by the public health advice and provide further updates to Victorians, and if that advice changes will provide an update."
Health authorities are meeting to discuss a possible snap lockdown for the state and is anticipated to be announced later in the day.
We'll have to see over the coming hours and days as to how those numbers start to move with other cases start to emerge, and also what those acquisitions sources are a number of unknowns at this point in time, and those are all questions we need to go to answers to quickly
- Jeroen Weimar
There are seven Victorians in hospital, with two in intensive care on ventilators.
There were 27,279 COVID-19 tests processed across the state yesterday and 17,229 vaccinations delivered in state-run clinics.
Health authorities are currently urgently testing close contacts of the unknown cases that are part of this new potential outbreak.
"We are urgently testing the people who are closest to, particularly three unlinked cases," he said.
"We need to make sure that these three cases at the moment ... are better understood."
Spectacle Hub in Lake Street, Caroline Springs, is listed as a tier 1 exposure site for July 29 and 30, and August 2 and 3.
Anyone who attended the store during the exposure period is required to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
The school where a teacher who tested positive for COVID-19 works has been listed as a tier 1 exposure site for three days last week.
Al-Taqwa College in Truganina was added to Victoria's list of exposure sites late on Wednesday night.
It's listed as a tier 1 site from Wednesday, July 28, to Friday, July 30, betwwen 8:30am and 5:00pm each day.
Staff, students, and visitors to the school during that time are required to get tested and isolate for 14 days.
Yesterday, the Coles supermarket at Yarraville Square was listed as a tier 2 exposure site for Thursday, July 29, between 4:30pm and 5:30pm.
Anyone who has visited a tier 2 site must get tested and isolate until they receive a negative result.
Check the table below to find all the sites and exposure windows.
You can find information on testing site hours and the nearest site to you on the Department of Health's website.
READ MORE:
Fears COVID-infected teacher could have been in community for a week
At least four Melbourne schools have closed as Victorian authorities race to trace the movements of a COVID-19 positive teacher.
A female teacher from Al-Taqwa College in Truganina was diagnosed on Wednesday and may have been infectious in the community for a week.
The school has been temporarily closed with more than 2000 students and 300 staff ordered to get tested and self-isolate.
In a statement on Wednesday night, the school said it would be locked down for 14 days and classes conducted online until August 18, unless the health department advised otherwise.
The Ilim College and Australian International Academy campuses as well as the Islamic College of Melbourne (ICOM) at Tarneit in Melbourne's west were also shut on Thursday as a precaution.
IN OTHER NEWS
In separate letters, the three schools reassured parents that none of their students or staff had tested positive so far.
"There are many primary contacts at ICOM who may have been in contact with the Al-Taqwa positive confirmed case," one said.
The Al-Taqwa teacher, aged in her 20s, is currently isolating and being interviewed by contract tracers and with urgent investigations are underway into how she contracted the virus.
She lives in the Hobsons Bay area with her husband, who was also undergoing testing on Wednesday night.
Victoria's COVID-19 Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar said the woman became symptomatic at the end of last week and may have been infectious in the community for a week before testing positive.
"The 28th, 29th, and 30th (of July) - we're assuming that's the point in time when she may have been infectious," he told ABC Radio on Thursday.
The college has been listed as a tier-one exposure site across those three days, while a Coles at Yarraville is a tier-two site for specific times on July 29.
Mr Weimar said some exposure sites listed in the Hobsons Bay area might be a connection point for the woman's infection.
Al-Taqwa College was a significant location for transmission in last year's second wave.
Thursday marks the one-year anniversary of Victora recording 725 cases, the highest daily number of infections in its deadly second wave of the virus.
- With Australian Associated Press
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