Crowds at the MCG for the Boxing Day Test. - AAP
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Tens of thousands of cricket fans and Boxing Day shoppers are being asked to get tested and self-isolate, following Victoria s first mystery coronavirus case in more than two months.
Health authorities are scrambling to find the source, with a man in his 30s catching the virus after attending the sales at Chadstone Shopping Centre on December 26 and the Boxing Day Test at the MCG the following day.
Chadstone and the MCG, billed as the largest shopping centre and sports stadium in the country, have now been listed as possible transmission sites.
The new variant raging across London appears to be more infectious than previous strains of coronavirus, with one in 30 people infected in the city compared with one in 50 across England. There is also a small but real worry the UK government s decision to lengthen the time between delivering the two required doses of a vaccine could spawn a further mutant strain.
So far, the new UK strain has been found in two people in quarantine in NSW, five in Victoria and one in WA.
NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant, who also sits on AHPPC, says while pre-flight testing could be useful in some circumstances, people who returned a negative result could still become infectious.
Heavy rain and hail has followed a severe weather warning for Victoria as asthma and hay fever sufferers have been told to plan for thunderstorm asthma.
Melbourne was battered with wild weather this afternoon after consecutive days of more typical sunny December weather ahead of Christmas.
Thunderstorms have lashed most states in Australia today, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
VicEmergency has warned damaging winds, large hailstones and heavy rainfall would impact Melbourne and the central and east of the state.
The rain is expected to last all night before easing slightly tomorrow.
Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said the pollen count was particularly high in Victoria today and urged any vulnerable people to take care and plan ahead.
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