THE Alpine Shire has recorded its first coronavirus case after an aged care resident in Bright tested positive for the virus.
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) notified Alpine Health on Sunday before Hawthorn Village went into mandatory lockdown.
It will remain closed for 14 days.
Alpine Health chief executive offer Lyndon Seys confirmed about 25 residents have been placed in quarantine and will be tested.
“Hawthorn Village has been put into lockdown and we are in the process of testing all of our staff who have been working and in contact with residents and the residents as well,” he said on Monday.
“The DHHS is sending a team to work through more testing of contacts and to start contact tracing so we can find the source of the virus.”
The confirmed positive test was taken in Melbourne where the resident remains for an unrelated condition.
“We had no staff members and no residents showing symptoms and that’s for us a good sign but it is far too early for us to speculate where it came from,” Mr Seys said.
Anyone who has been in close contact with the facility will also be ordered into home quarantine.
The families of residents have been notified.
For the latest on this story see Thursday’s edition of the Alpine Observer and Myrtleford Times.