"It is a variant of significant concern," Prof Sutton said. It comes after Thursday's confirmation that two earlier cases in the outbreak had been ruled false positives. Victorian Acting Premier James Merlino said despite the two false positives, there were no immediate plans to shorten Melbourne's lockdown. "It (false positives or false negatives) has been a rare occurrence, but it has been a feature, when you do 100s of thousands of tests." Victoria's Department of Health announced the two false positives just hours before Melbourne began its second week of lockdown.

Source: Otago Daily Times June 04, 2021 01:52 UTC