‘Not just about case numbers’: The COVID-19 ‘risk’ that remains in Victoria

A leading epidemiologist says while COVID-19 case numbers in Victoria are “heading in the right direction”, the figures alone won’t determine if the state comes out of of lockdown on Tuesday.

Inaugural chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, Professor Catherine Bennett, says it’s “not just about case numbers at the moment”.

“I think the other area that’s emerged as a bit of an issue is we haven’t seen testing of all those primary close contacts from particularly those big public events, the MCG, AAMI (Park) and so on,” she told Neil Mitchell.

“They were in those Tier 1 exposure sites … but they haven’t got tested. They’re okay, they’re in quarantine, their close contacts with them in quarantine aren’t a risk to the community, but we know these people weren’t identified until after they would have been infectious if they are cases.”

Professor Bennett says there’s a “risk” those people may have spread the virus before they went into isolation.

Press PLAY below to hear how likely Professor Bennett thinks it is that Victoria will be released from lockdown on Tuesday