Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed 278 new cases of COVID-19 in his daily briefing on Thursday, down from Wednesday’s total of 410 new cases.
This is the lowest number of new cases since July 20.
Premier Andrews confirmed eight new deaths including one woman in her 50s, two men in their 70s, two women and two men in their 80s and one man in his 90s.
Of these, four deaths have been linked to aged care.
Victoria has 7,866 active cases with 2,018 linked to aged care settings.
There are now 125 active outbreaks in aged care homes, including:
- 201 cases linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping (3 new cases since Wednesday)
- 184 cases linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner (2 new cases since Wednesday)
- 153 cases linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer (no new cases since Wednesday)
- 131 cases linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth (2 new cases since Wednesday)
- 119 cases linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee (4 new cases since Wednesday)
- 108 cases linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North (1 new case since Wednesday)
- 99 cases linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg (2 new cases since Wednesday)
- 89 cases linked to Arcare Aged Care Facility in Craigieburn (no new cases since Wednesday)
- 87 cases linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir (14 new cases since Tuesday)
- 82 cases linked to Glendale Aged Care Facility in Werribee (no new cases since Wednesday)
Arcare provided revised numbers after the Victorian Department of Health published their update, saying the facility had a total of 76 COVID cases.
Victoria has 664 patients in hospital including 37 in intensive care. Of the ICU patients, 25 are currently on a ventilator.
State Government steps in at 3 homes “of particular concern”
Premier Andrews confirmed the Victorian Government had assumed operations management control at three facilities in Melbourne’s west.
The facilities include:
- Glenlyn Aged Care Facility in Glenroy – managed by Melbourne Health
- Florence Aged Care Facility in Altona North – managed by Western Health
- Kalyna Aged Care Facility in Delahey – managed by Bacchus Marsh Hospital, being led by Djerriwarrh Health Services with Ramsay Health Care also on-site.
“Those public hospitals will work with nurses and personal care attendants from private partners, whether it be Ramsey, Epworth, St Vincent’s Private,” he said.
“We’ve essentially assumed responsibility, taken over those facilities, for the purposes of the highest quality care, and to deal with very challenging circumstances in those three.”
Glenlyn Aged was one of the facilities mentioned in media reports yesterday, which allege residents had been sedated.
Transfer decisions made on clinical needs, but “Anyone that needs to go to hospital will go to hospital”
The Victorian Premier also spoke on the nature of hospital transfers, after confirming more than 400 aged care residents have been transferred out of their home.
Premier Andrews said decisions to transfer residents were being made by medical professionals on clinical needs.
“We don’t have a system that is designed to deliver the easiest outcome for the private operator. We have a system that is designed to provide the best care for the resident. That is what will always guide us,” he said.
“And all parties are satisfied that clinical need is driving those important choices. That’s what has to drive it, not the convenience or the ease of those private sector providers but the need, the absolute need, in clinical terms of each and every one of those residents. I hope that is some reassurance to some people who have got relatives in aged care that are in no way connected to some of the homes I’ve just listed and others who feel anxious about this. I will again make it clear.”
“The clinical needs, the healthcare needs of your loved one, will drive, exclusively, any decisions made about whether they stay in place in their home, or whether they come to a hospital, whether that be a public hospital or, indeed, a private hospital.”
“That’s the way it should be. That’s the way it always has been and that policy will not be changing. Their care, their best interests, as a patient, as a resident, will continue to dominate and be the exclusive focus of those decisions that are made.”
