Victoria has recorded 11 new locally acquired coronavirus cases, three of which are related to emerging outbreaks within the aged care sector. To put it bluntly: fuck. It’s all looking a bit serious again.
Acting Premier James Merlino announced the new numbers today, including six cases which came through after the late-night cut-off (meaning they will officially be recorded in tomorrow’s numbers).
The three aged care-related cases are across two different care homes,.
One person is the son of a healthcare worker at Arcare Maidstone who tested positive to the virus on the weekend.
The second person is a healthcare worker who worked alongside the first at Arcare Maidstone, but who also worked at the Blue Cross ACG Sunshine facility, on May 26, 27 and 28.
The third person is a woman in her 90s, who is a resident of the Arcare Maidstone aged care facility.
“She is asymptomatic and has been transferred to a separate hospital that we have established precisely for this risk,” Health Minister Martin Foley said.
“Our thoughts are clearly with the resident, with the workforce and communities and families they are all a part of.”
Melbourne is half-way through a seven-day lockdown, and while no mention has been made (yet) of this lockdown being extended, Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it has to be taken “day by day”.
“They are concerning numbers and concerning settings,” Sutton said.
“We’ve gone from a single case of the beginning of the month to 4200 primary close contacts.
“It has been a rapidly moving virus and the transmission that has occurred in those high-risk settings has been very substantial.
“So we have to take it as a day by day prospect. With more numbers today coming through and those really concerning settings, especially in aged care, we are neck and neck with this virus and it is an absolute beast.”
