Jessica Micallef
Hume has been designated a COVID-19 “hot spot”, with medical officials calling for a “lockdown” of the municipality.
The number of cases across Hume and Melbourne continued to grow at the weekend, forcing the state government to extend its state of emergency for another month.
By Sunday, Hume had recorded 82 cases, with nine listed as active, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Macedon Ranges, meanwhile, had 9 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of Sunday.
The Sunbury Animal Hospital temporarily closed last week for deep cleaning after an additional case detected through community testing was linked to a staff member at the hospital.
However it was confirmed by the Department of Health and Human Services that the test result was a “laboratory error”.
The individual had no exposure to anyone with symptoms and had no symptoms at the time of testing.
In Victoria there were 1836 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Sunday.
According to a report in The Age on Monday, The Australian Health Protection Principal Committee said in a statement that it “strongly discourages” travel to and from Hume, Casey, Brimbank, Moreland, Cardinia and Darebin for non-essential reasons until the Victorian government can suppress the spread of community transmission in those municipalities.
