Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed 222 new cases in his daily briefing on Tuesday – the lowest number of infections in almost a month – and a slight dip on Monday’s total of 282 new cases.
The State now has 7,274 active cases, including 2,024 linked to aged care settings.
Mr Andrews confirmed 17 new deaths including a man in his 60s, one woman and one man in their 70s, two women and four men in their 80s, and four women and four men in their 90s.
Of these deaths, 13 have been linked to aged care.
There are also now nine aged care settings in Victoria with at least 100 cases each.
The largest clusters include:
- 205 cases linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping (no new cases since Monday)
190 cases linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner (no new cases since Monday)
157 cases linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer (no new cases since Monday)
136 cases linked to Baptcare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee (5 new cases since Monday)
131 cases linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth (1 new case since Monday)
111 cases linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North (4 new cases since Monday)
110 cases linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg (3 new cases since Monday)
101 cases linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir (1 new cases since Monday)
100 cases linked to Japara Goonawarra in Sunbury (13 new cases since Monday)
99 cases linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility (6 new cases since Monday)
I can’t guarantee there won’t be more aged care outbreaks – Premier Andrews
The Premier was drawn on the Victorian aged care outbreaks, saying every effort had been made to provide care and support for the residents.
“Let’s be very clear about this, these residents have absolutely nothing to do with the public health system – hospitals, for instance, nurses, personal workers, have gone in there because they have been asked to do so and they have done their level best, their level best,” he said.
Mr Andrews also said he couldn’t guarantee the state wouldn’t see more outbreaks in aged care.
“I can with some confidence say to you that we have been asked to step in and provide some help. We are doing that, everyone is working together as best they possibly can and the only focus, whether it be in surge capacity workforce, so our staff going into another system, but still to get the job done, transports to hospital, all of these things are guided by one thing – that is, the best interests, the care and dignity of every one of the residents,” he said.
Chief Health Officer hopes to see new cases continue to drop
Victoria’s Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton also appeared at the briefing, and said the downwards trend in new cases was encouraging.
“We shouldn’t hang everything on a single day’s result but overall, the trend is good,” he said.
“We have also seen that the number of active cases in aged care is trending down. The number of overall active cases is coming down by the hundreds each day but it is still a pretty big number, 7,274 active cases still in Victoria. I do expect that to decrease by a couple of hundred every day for the rest of this week and more next week.”
