Coronavirus confusion: Text message ends quarantine prematurely

Some Victorians have mistakenly received text messages saying that they were free to leave isolation before their 14-day period ended.

The Herald Sun reports the messages, sent yesterday morning, contained the wrong advice.

The messages told recipients in 14-day quarantine that they were no longer in quarantine, even though it was several days ahead of their actual end date.

It’s not yet clear how many people had received the erroneous text.

The Department of Health and Human Services said it was the result of a “data entry error”.

One recipient, who sensed it was a mistake, called the coronavirus hotline, where she was told messages had been sent in error, and she should ignore it.

A DHHS spokesperson has apologised for the error.