The spread of swine flu is accelerating in Victoria, with the toll rising from 53 to 96 since yesterday afternoon, while in Sydney hotels nervous of bad publicity are reportedly evicting swine flu victims.
According to the Daily Telegraph newspaper, two hotels are evicting people who were on the swine flu-contaminated cruise ship Pacific Dawn.
The Meriton Serviced apartments in Parramatta is understood to be evicting 12 people, while the Holiday Inn in either Darling Harbour or Kings Cross has ordered two people to leave.
All the cruise ship victims are supposed to be in quarantine until Monday.
The Holiday Inn in Darling Harbour declined to comment to the Daily Telegraph about the matter while a manager at the Meriton identified as "Moe" denied any knowledge of the Pacific Dawn passengers.
In Victoria, the state's health minister has said most of the new swine flu victims are from Melbourne's northern suburbs, which so far has been the epicentre of Victoria's swine flu outbreak.
"We're seeing more cases in the northern suburbs, so it's fairly consistent," he said.
The huge jump in the number of swine flu cases comes as health authorities warned one in five Australians could expect to contract swine flu in the next 12 months.
In a statement, Mr Andrews said that given the spread of the virus through the Victorian community already, the new infections were not a surprise.
"The Department of Human Services (DHS) is now checking for further details of their background history," he said.
"All cases are being treated with anti-viral medication where appropriate and will remain in isolation for seven days," he said.
Acting chief health officer Dr Rosemary Lester said anyone with flu-like symptoms should see their GP.
St Helena Secondary College at St Helena, in Melbourne's northeast, has confirmed a year 12 student has contracted the influenza A (H1N1) virus.
The confirmation came in a letter by principal Trudy Thomson that was posted on the college's website on Thursday.
The boy had not attended school since last Friday, but DHS would trace anyone who had contact with the boy and may quarantine them if necessary.
The letter makes no mention of any planned school closure.
Three other schools - St John's Catholic Primary School in Clifton Hill, St Monica's in Epping, and Melbourne Girls College in Richmond - will close after further cases were confirmed at each school.
Thornbury High School and Mill Park Secondary remain closed.
More than 2,500 Victorians have been quarantined or asked to limit their social movements because of the swine flu outbreak, and that number was expected to rise, Mr Andrews said.
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