Australia’s coronavirus second wave deepens as thousands REFUSE to take tests but numbers still spiral

AUSTRALIA’S second coronavirus wave is worsening but thousands of people are refusing to get tested.

The state of Victoria has reported another 30 cases on Friday and started to carry out mass testing in Melbourne’s suburban hotspots.

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But one third of returning travellers who are quarantining in the state are said to be refusing to be tested.

Five of the new cases were detected through routine testing, five in hotel quarantine and seven are linked to known outbreaks.

The remaining 13 cases are still being investigated.

Officials claim to have carried out 20,000 tests since Thursday bringing the total tests carried out in Victoria to date to more than 736,000. 

Premier of Victoria Daniel Andrews announced earlier today he wanted to carry out a “testing blitz” in ten Covid-19 hotspots in Melbourne’s suburbs.

But Victoria's Deputy Chief Health Officer Annaliese van Diemen warned there was only around 70 per cent uptake for the tests.

She said: “I believe that not everybody who has been offered testing has taken it up.

ONLY 70 PER CENT UPTAKE OF TESTS

“It is disappointing. We would like everybody to get tested in those areas.”

Despite that she said she was still “happy with the current regime.”

“Everybody's offered testing on multiple occasions throughout their stay and we have, you know, very good uptake of that,” Dr van Diemen said.

“At this point in time we're pretty happy with the current regimen. It's more stringent than most other places.”

She added: “At the moment there is no requirement that they must undertake testing.”

Australia's chief medical officer Brendan Murphy said the federal government was looking to ensure no one left quarantine contagious.

“We're seeing imported cases in hotel quarantine from a range of different countries now,” Dr Murphy said.

“We are going to start testing people on entry to quarantine and testing people before they leave quarantine to see whether a testing regime might help in the future.”

'TESTING BLITZ'

The Orygen Youth Mental Health Facility has been closed down after a worker tested positive for the coronavirus.

Dr van Diemen said the facility was now in lockdown and undergoing deep cleaning.

A McDonald’s worker who has tested positive for the virus has now been linked to what is called the Wollert outbreak.

Dr van Diemen said: “The St Monica's outbreak has been renamed as the Wollert outbreak because it has been apparent the major driver of this outbreak has been social occasions with some spill over into the school, so the worker at McDonald's is linked to that outbreak.”

Health officials are also working to contain two cases confirmed at a Coles distribution centre in Laverton in south-west Melbourne. 

One of those cases has been linked to the large Keilor Downs outbreak.

The Keilor Downs family outbreak in north-west Melbourne has now increased to 19 infections.

Another outbreak in northern Melbourne now has 15 cases.

Victoria’s second coronavirus outbreak began on June 17 when 21 new cases were recorded.

It’s worst day so far was on June 25 when 33 new cases came to light.

There are 183 active cases in Victoria with six in hospital.

More than 1,700 people have recovered from the virus in the state. 

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