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A new COVID-19 case has been linked to the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport outbreak.
The 11th case in the cluster was confirmed by COVID-19 Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar.
The latest case has been identified in a staff member at the hotel, who was tested on February 10 and returned a positive result on February 11.
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Further information was provided about two cases mentioned earlier on Thursday afternoon.
Both of those new cases were found in spouses of employees at the Holiday Inn.
Mr Weimar said both individuals were already isolating as primary close contacts of their partners.
Genomic studies returned from cases identified as case five and six of the cluster have been typed as the UK variant, consistent with cases one to four.
Mr Weimar said the Department of Health believes all cases associated with this outbreak are the COVID-19 UK variant.
1:30pm
TWO further cases have been linked to the Holiday Inn Melbourne Airport COVID-19 cluster, the Victorian Department of Health has confirmed.
"Both are household primary close contacts of currently confirmed Holiday Inn staff cases," the department said in a social media statement.
"Interviews are underway and known exposure sites will be published online... as soon as possible."
9.30am
Two COVID-19 cases have been added to Victoria's official tally.
Both are connected to the Holiday Inn outbreak and both were flagged yesterday by the Health Department.
Victoria has 17 local cases, with 22,570 people flocking to test sites.
People in Sunbury are being texted and testing sites are opening amid Melbourne testing blitzes triggered by both the Holiday Inn outbreak and an unrelated case at another quarantine site last week.
6.50am
THE Health Department has asked extra people at a potential exposure site to lockdown and get tested as it races to control a COVID-19 outbreak connected with a Melbourne quarantine hotel.
The late-night tweet came after authorities closed Melbourne's Holiday Inn quarantine hotel until further notice and advised that two more cases had been confirmed.
"Individuals who attended the shopping centre outside of this timeframe are not considered at risk, but should monitor for symptoms and immediately present for testing if they become unwell," it tweeted.
The shopping centre is one that a person diagnosed earlier this week had visited and which contained stores authorities had already issued warnings for.
The department is considering whether a nebuliser - a a medical device that vaporises medicines or liquids into a very fine mist - used on a floor of the hotel may have helped spread the virus.
Eight positive cases have now been connected to the Holiday Inn outbreak, including the two found yesterday.
Those two people's cases are expected to be officially added to the official daily update which the department plans to release later this morning.
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