COVID-19 in schools: One Melbourne school in lockdown, students at two other schools in isolation

FIRST with NEIL MITCHELL

Eight students from three schools in Melbourne’s north-west are embroiled in a coronavirus outbreak.

3AW’s Rumour File this morning heard Keilor Downs College was in lockdown after a student tested positive to the virus, and Neil Mitchell confirmed the case.

The student attended school on Tuesday, while they were showing coronavirus symptoms.

It comes after a teacher at the same secondary school tested positive to COVID-19 last Friday.

The health department says there is no link between the two cases.

“DHHS has advised there is no evidence of a link between the staff member who previously tested positive for coronavirus and this student. The teacher was not infectious when they were on-site,” the department said in a statement.

The affected student is a close contact of a family cluster.

Students at two other schools who came into close contact with the affected Keilor Downs College student are also in self-isolation.

Six students at Taylor Lakes Secondary College and one student at St Albans Secondary College are isolating after attending a class at Keilor Downs College.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said 78 students from Keilor Downs College have been ordered to self-isolate for two weeks after coming into close contact with the infected student, and that figure is likely to rise.

Professor Sutton said it’s unlikely the decision to reopen schools will be reversed, even if the Keilor Downs school cluster grows.

“The risk within the school system overall is really extremely low,” he told Neil Mitchell.

Press PLAY below for the full interview with Professor Sutton.

A mobile testing clinic will be set up in Keilor Downs, amid concern there may be a spike in community transmission in the Keilor Downs area.

The school case comes as Victoria recorded seven new coronavirus cases overnight.

One case has been removed from the state tally, bringing the Victorian total to 1634.

Three of the new cases were detected via routine testing, while two are returned travellers in hotel quarantine.

The source of two infections is under investigation.

Press PLAY below for more.

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