Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed 240 new cases of COVID-19 in his press briefing yesterday – an increase on the 216 new cases recorded on Wednesday.
The state recorded 13 new deaths including a man in his 70s, six women in their 80s, five women and one man in their 90s – eight are linked to aged care.
Victoria now has 4,864 active cases with 1,811 linked to aged care settings – a sharp dip on the previous day’s 2,000-plus cases.
The major aged care outbreaks include:
- 209 cases linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care (4 new cases since Wednesday)
- 193 cases linked to St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner (2 new cases since Wednesday)
- 158 cases linked to Estia Aged Care in Ardeer (1 new case since Wednesday)
- 152 cases linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee (5 new cases since Wednesday)
- 132 cases linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth (1 new case since Wednesday)
- 112 cases linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North (1 new case since Wednesday)
- 111 cases linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir (8 new cases since Wednesday)
- 110 cases linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North (2 new cases since Wednesday)
- 110 cases linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg (no new cases since Wednesday)
- 105 cases linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury (5 new cases since Wednesday)
Victoria has 622 people in hospital with 43 in intensive care. Of the ICU patients, 28 are on a ventilator.
Sharp dip in the number of active cases
Victoria’s Deputy Chief Health Officer Professor Allen Cheng also appeared at the briefing, where he explained the significant decrease in the number of active cases.
Dr Cheng said a lot of work had gone into the process of how an active case is cleared, called ‘release from isolation’.
“For a lot of people -- for most people, it involves a case interview that’s a bit like the opposite of the case investigation that we do at the start. So, it does take an assessment by a trained health professional. What it does involve is making sure that their symptoms have cleared and enough time has lapsed since the start of their illness to allow them to be released from isolation,” he said.
“But for some cases – for some patients who have on-go symptoms or people that have more severe disease that are in hospital or have been in hospital, or for some that have impaired immune systems, they require additional swabs.”
“It’s not a simple process. A lot of work has gone in over the last couple of days to clear people from isolation so that they can go back into their normal activities.”