A Coles Belmont supermarket employee has tested positive for COVID-19, according to a company statement issued yesterday.
The case occurred at Coles’ supermarket on High Street across the road from Aldi, not at its Belmont Village supermarket, a company spokesperson told the Independent this morning.
“A team member at Coles’ Belmont VIC supermarket is self-isolating after testing positive for COVID-19,” Coles said yesterday.
“Coles worked with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services to conduct contact tracing, which found the team member had not been in close contact with any other team members.
“Coles’ standard cleaning procedures comply with the Federal Government’s COVID-19 Hygiene Practices For Supermarkets.
“As an added precaution, Coles has conducted an additional deep clean of the store.
“The Victorian Department of Health has confirmed the store can continue to trade and the risk of transmission for customers and team members is very low.”
Meanwhile, the Surf Coast has recorded its first COVID-19 case since April 10 with an employee at Rip Curl testing positive on Tuesday.
Rip Curl said in a statement on Wednesday that the office staff member had not worked in its retail stores or warehouse in recent weeks, prior to testing positive.
The employee had been working from home in accordance with state government policy in recent months and, more recently, living in Melbourne, the surf company said.
They last visited the Torquay office for a meeting on Tuesday, June 30, while asymptomatic, and observed social distancing measures, Rip Curl said.
Their symptoms developed 48 hours after they left Torquay, the company said.
The company said it had informed the Department of Health and Human Services and deep cleaning of its Torquay office had commenced.
Six staff members identified through contact tracing as coming into contact with the person were now in self-isolation until cleared, Rip Curl said.
The office is closed until further notice but Rip Curl will continue to operate its Torquay shopfronts as normal, the company said.
The case brought the Surf Coast Shire’s active cases to one, with 10 in the region since the pandemic began.
Active Geelong coronavirus cases remained level on two as of midnight on Tuesday, after the city recorded two new cases on Monday.
The Department of Health and Human Services recorded 134 new cases as of midnight on Tuesday, reclassifying 16 mainly due to duplication.
The resulting increase of 118 brought the state total to 2942, with 860 currently active.
State Government has placed metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire back under Stage 3 stay-at-home restrictions until August 19 amid a spike in cases.
