Daniel Andrews has been plunged into isolation after coming into contact with a positive Covid case at a lavish private dinner.
The Victorian premier on his first day of Christmas leave attended the lavish’ 50th birthday for a friend at the Elwood foreshore Saturday night, in the south of Melbourne.
Late on Wednesday night, he received a Health Department text message notifying him he’d been exposed to the virus – along with dozens of other party guests, The Age reported.
The Covid-hardliner who kept Melbourne trapped in the world’s longest lockdown was at the Elwood Bathers with his wife Catherine and a team of personal security guards.
The woman being honored in the private function room was the Andrew’s long-time friend Fiona Waller, who is married to iSelect founder Damien Waller.
Andrews reportedly made a speech at the dinner as guests let their hair down with an array of cocktails and wine on offer.
‘You wouldn’t have seen many blue-collar workers there. It was right at the other end of the scale,’ a guest who did not wish to be identified said.
‘There was flowing French champagne and proper cocktails. Ladies were dressed in real fashion and gents were mostly in well-fitted sports jackets.’
But the well-dressed partygoers were sent into a spin on Thursday with health officials scrambling to inform them a positive case also attended the event.
At this stage it remains unclear how close the premier came to the infected diner.
Dan Andrews rushed to get a Covid test on Thursday but the results have not yet been revealed.
Whatever the outcome, he is expected to spend the next four weeks of his annual leave on the glamorous Mornington Peninsula.
The state recorded it’s highest daily total of Covid infections on Thursday with 1,622 new cases as fears grow the Omicron variant will continue to see infections spiral into the new year.
