Deputy Chief Medical Officer says he is “hopeful” no further coronavirus outbreaks in aged care

Deputy Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly has stated that he is optimistic that a repeat of the COVID-19 outbreak at Anglicare’s Newmarch House – which has led to the deaths of 16 residents – won’t happen again.

“Well, I’m hopeful. Preparing for the worst but hoping for the best,” he told the Today show on Friday.

“Will it happen again? It might. But the best way of making sure it doesn’t happen, is to keep that curve flat. If there are very few cases around in the community, it is not going to get into your aged care homes because it is not there.”

Echoing the praise by the Prime Minister and the Aged Care Minister this week, Dr Kelly said that despite the outbreaks at Newmarch House and Dorothy Henderson Lodge, Australia has done a good job at managing the aged care sector and preventing widespread outbreaks in its homes.

“We have done a remarkably good job across the sector in the last little while, with some exceptions — Newmarch is one of those and Dorothy Henderson Lodge earlier on,” he said.

“I was speaking to people in Canada, huge problems, and the same in the UK and other similar countries.”

Outside of Newmarch House and Cedar Meats outbreak in Melbourne, Australia’s curve has been “flat” this week according to Dr Kelly.

On Thursday, Health Minister Greg Hunt announced that the country had fewer than 800 active cases – with more than 6,000 Australians now recovered from the virus.