The remaining residents of St Basil’s Home for the Aged in Fawkner, Melbourne, will be transferred after a positive case among the surge staff brought in to manage the outbreak.

There are now more than 120 active coronavirus cases linked to the home in Melbourne’s north.

Professor Alison McMillan, the Government’s Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer who has visited the home, said medical teams were aiming to move all residents out by end of yesterday.

“These decisions are not made lightly, because there are risks associated with moving very vulnerable people – particularly those with dementia,” she said.

“But it was felt that it was time that we do this for the safety of the residents.”

The staff at St Basil’s had been ordered into quarantine by Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton, on 22 July to stop the spread of the virus.

It makes you question how prepared the surge staff were.