By Luke Voogt
Health authorities have cleared a Geelong resident who tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday following a review on Tuesday.
The Department of Health and Human Services reported the case on Tuesday but Premier Daniel Andrews indicated the case was under review.
On Tuesday afternoon Barwon Health infectious diseases specialist Associate Professor Daniel O’Brien confirmed the review had cleared the resident of any existing infection.
“A review of positive COVID-19 test results for a Geelong resident has been confirmed as a cleared case who is not infectious, and was not infectious after leaving their isolation period,” he said.
“Evidence has shown that some people can remain positive for up to three months after they are no longer infectious and even after they have recovered from their illness, as in this case.”
Earlier on Tuesday Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said the case was “probably not real”.
Professor Sutton said swabs could sometimes pick up residual and dead virus fragments despite a case no longer being infectious.
He said an expert panel needed to confirm the case was not a reinfection, which he described as a “rare”.
Victoria recorded 12 new cases on Monday, with two reclassified, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).
The state’s active cases dropped by five to 186 on Monday, while regional Victoria currently has no active cases except for five in Mitchell Shire.
DHHS reported a man in his 70s had died after contracting COVID-19, bringing the state’s death toll to 811.
According to DHHS, 19,243 people have recovered from COVID-19 and 2,858,995 test results have been received.
