Australia orders mass tests after daycare worker charged with child abuse

ISTANBUL

Australian authorities are conducting mass infectious disease tests after a daycare worker was charged with child abuse.

Joshua Dale Brown, 26, was charged on Tuesday with more than 70 offenses of child abuse, including sexual assault, on Tuesday, according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

He is accused of abusing eight children, aged between five months and two years, at the Creative Garden Early Learning Centre in Melbourne, Victoria.

Brown has worked across 20 childcare centers in the Melbourne area.

ABC reported Thursday however, citing three parents, that Brown may have worked more days in childcare centers, than authorities previously disclosed, possibly compromising even more children to the abuse.

The state has ordered for around 1,200 children to be urgently tested for infectious diseases due to the allegation that Brown contaminated their food with bodily fluids.

The state of Victoria announced Wednesday that an urgent review on immediate action would take place, including possible measures like installing CCTV in childcare centers.

A second man, Michael Simon Wilson, who was not a childcare worker but believed to be connected to Brown, has also been charged with serious offenses related to child sex abuse material and sex offenses.