Victoria is set to record almost 300 cases of coronavirus as the state’s aged care crisis deepens

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Victoria is set to record almost 300 cases of coronavirus as the state’s aged care crisis deepens

Victoria is set to record almost 300 cases of coronavirus on Wednesday.

Hospital staff and Australian Defence Force medics are being sent into Victoria’s coronavirus-stricken aged care facilities as deaths mount.

Staff shortages due to isolation orders is being partly blamed for the crisis.

Ambulance officers remove a resident from the St Basil’s Home for the Aged in the Melbourne suburb of Fawkner on Monday 

‘No business in Australia has a business continuity plan that accounts for their entire workforce not being able to go to work,’ Deputy Chief Medical Officer Nick Coatsworth told Nine on Wednesday.

‘I think in a lot of ways that has led some of the most affected institutions to where they are now.’

Four of Victoria’s six deaths on Tuesday were linked to outbreaks in aged care, bringing the state’s toll from the virus to 83 and the national toll to 167.

There are 4,775 active COVID-19 cases across Victoria, with 769 of those are linked to aged care homes and 414 among health workers.

Premier Daniel Andrews on Tuesday announced elective surgeries would be suspended in metropolitan Melbourne, except for category one and the most urgent category two procedures.

Australian Defence Force personnel and Victoria police officers patrol the Royal Botanic Gardens on Sunday, ensuring everyone wears face masks

He said the move would free up hospital beds to treat residents and allow health workers to go into aged care homes to cope with the staff shortages.

He said it would also allow staff to provide care and support to the most vulnerable residents in and coming out of private sector aged care, noting resident transfers would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

The premier told reporters he would not want in his mother in some of the federally regulated homes, prompting an emotional defence of carers and nurses from federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.

Outbreaks at meatworks across Melbourne have also increased, with 99 cases linked to Somerville Meats Retail Services in Tottenham and 89 associated with Bertocchi Smallgoods in Thomastown.

Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said there was some good news regarding an outbreak at the Royal Children’s Hospital neonatal intensive care unit, where a baby, two parents and a health care worker tested positive on Monday.

She said all other babies in the unit had tested negative, with just one result pending.

Source: Daily Mail Australia | News Colony

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