By Laura Michell
The number of coronavirus cases in Whittlesea is growing rapidly, with the municipality recording 233 new cases in the past week and 77 new cases in the past 24 hours alone.
According to Department of Health and Human Services data, there were 253 coronavirus cases in Whittlesea one week ago.
Since then the case count has risen steadily each day, reaching 486 cases today.
There are 327 active cases of the virus in Whittlesea.
The rise in case numbers comes as DHHS revealed an outbreak at Epping Gardens Aged Care had grown to 77 people. Yesterday, the department had linked only 24 cases to the facility.
An outbreak linked to 69 cases has also been recorded at Bertocchi Smallgoods’ Thomastown factory,
Hume recorded 47 new COVID-19 cases since yesterday, taking the municipality’s total to 810 cases, of which 381 are active.
An outbreak at Arcare Aged Care’s Craigieburn facility has been linked to 45 cases. Three residents have died in the past week after testing positive for the virus.
An outbreak has also been linked to Craigieburn’s FreshPlus supermarket.
In a statement, FreshPlus said seven cases had been linked to the outbreak.
“We urge all of our lovely community members to get tested and if anyone is showing symptoms they need to also self isolate immediately. Please do not take this advice for granted,” the statement said.
“As we are all in this together, we must not panic, we must help each other to contain this virus as a strong community unit.
“If anyone you know shows symptoms of COVID-19, please urge them to get tested and self-isolate immediately.”
