1,700 active cases in aged care and seven new deaths – but more to come – as Victoria records lowest single day increase in new cases in five weeks

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews confirmed 179 new cases of COVID-19 in Victoria in his daily press briefing yesterday, down from Thursday’s total of 240 new cases.

The Premier also announced nine deaths, with seven linked to aged care settings.

These deaths include a man in his 60s, a woman in her 70s, two women and two men in their 80s, two women in their 90s and one man in his 100s – bringing the state’s total death tally is now 385.

Victoria now has 1,732 active cases in aged care, from a total of 4,421 statewide.

The major outbreaks include:

• 209 cases linked to Epping Gardens Aged Care in Epping (no new cases since Thursday)
• 194 cases linked to St Basil’s Homes for the Aged in Fawkner (1 new case since Thursday)
• 158 cases linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Ardeer (no new cases since Thursday)
• 152 cases linked to BaptCare Wyndham Lodge Community in Werribee (no new cases since Thursday)
• 132 cases linked to Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth (no new cases since Thursday)
• 113 cases linked to Outlook Gardens Aged Care Facility in Dandenong North (1 new case since Thursday)
• 113 cases linked to Cumberland Manor Aged Care Facility in Sunshine North (2 new cases since Thursday)
• 112 cases linked to Twin Parks Aged Care in Reservoir (2 new cases since Thursday)
• 110 cases linked to Estia Aged Care Facility in Heidelberg (no new cases since Thursday)
• 107 cases linked to Japara Goonawarra Aged Care Facility in Sunbury (2 new cases since Thursday)

There are 626 Victorians in hospital with COVID with 40 in intensive care. Of the ICU patients, 25 are on a ventilator.

Mr Andrews said while the state wasn’t there yet, the numbers were trending in the right direction.

“Those numbers are falling and/or stable, and they relate principally to a number of larger outbreaks – once their 14-day period or whatever the equivalent finishes up being for them – we should see those numbers come down further,” he said.

Death rate expected to drop but next weeks will be challenging – Professor Sutton

Victorian Chief Health Officer, Professor Brett Sutton also appeared at the briefing, saying he expected to see a reduction in the death rate soon.

“It’ll definitely drop in coming weeks,” he said.  “But we’ll still see deaths, knowing the cases that we’re seeing at the moment.”

However, Professor Sutton said the next few weeks will be challenging, especially in settings like aged care where outbreaks can be difficult to manage.

“The challenge of the next couple of weeks is that, even as community transmission goes down, those complex outbreak settings that are really hard to get on top of transmission in the aged care and disability sector, even in our health services.”

“They might end up with a baseline level of transmission that is harder to shift.”