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Three new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 have been detected in Victoria overnight, but they pose no threat to the public.
According to Victoria's health minister Martin Foley, the three new cases are from the same family and were previous residents of the Melbourne Airport Holiday Inn where the COVID-19 outbreak occurred.
"One member of the household, who was not at the Holiday Inn, was considered a secondary contact and had been isolating from other family members," Foley said.
"All three had negative tests - multiple negative tests between the 10th and 12th of February. All have been quarantining at home during their infectious periods."
These latest cases come just after Victoria completed its five-day circuit-breaker lockdown to quash an outbreak of the highly infectious UK variant of COVID-19.
The entire state left lockdown at midnight on Wednesday, but some restrictions remain limiting gathering numbers at homes and imposing caps on hospitality venues.
Masks are also mandatory in Victoria indoors.
Overseas the COVID-19 situation is different; global deaths from the coronavirus are approaching 2.5 million. In the US alone, deaths have surpassed 500,000.
Australia is set to commence the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccination program next week, with the most vulnerable Australians and frontline health workers to be vaccinated first.
Updated at 11.22am AEDT on 19 February 2021.
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