More army troops deployed to Victoria as close contacts added to infected hotel worker

Hundreds more Australian Defence Force troops are heading to Victoria as more people are added to the list of potential close contacts of a Melbourne quarantine hotel worker who tested positive to COVID-19 this week.

Health minister Martin Foley today said close contacts of the Grand Hyatt employee had been expanded from 17 to 21 people.

All four new close contacts have tested negative, but will still isolate for 14 days.

Meanwhile an additional 230 troops will more than double the number currently working 12 quarantine hotels as the program expands up to 22 facilities.

READ MORE: 'Very encouraging' test results from quarantine worker's contacts

They will manage baggage, check-in and staff temperature checks, leaving security to Victoria Police.

Mr Foley said despite all testing results being negative over the last few days Victorians should be cautious.

"It will still take one more week before can say we have successfully seen this one off," he said.

"But the signs are positive."

Mr Foley said health authorities had made their way through more than 70 per cent of the 1151 primary contacts of the hotel worker in isolation, and so far all had returned negative results.

In total there are 645 close primary workplace contacts of the Grand Hyatt staffer.

Victoria today recorded no new cases of community-acquired cases a day before the highly anticipated start of the Australian Open tennis tournament tomorrow.

Health authorities reported zero new cases in the community and zero new cases in hotel quarantine.

READ MORE: 'Tap and display' vaccine proofs to be rolled out on Aussie smartphones

The results came from 14,862 tests and there are currently 21 active cases of COVID-19 in the state.

The newest zero case day – dubbed a "donut day" – comes 24 hours before the official start of the Australian Open, the tournament that threatened to plunge the state back into a fresh outbreak of the virus.

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