Victoria has recorded its 16th coronavirus fatality after a man in his 60s died in hospital.
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos confirmed on Thursday the man, who had underlying health conditions, had succumbed to the virus in hospital overnight.
“I want to express my thoughts and my sympathy to his family,” she said.
His death brought Australia’s national toll from the coronavirus pandemic to 75.
There are now 1,337 confirmed cases of #COVID-19 in Victoria. Sadly, a man in his 60s has died in hospital taking the number of people who died in Victoria from #COVID19 to 16. My thoughts are with his family #springst 1/2
— Jenny Mikakos MP #StayHomeSaveLives (@JennyMikakos) April 22, 2020
The man had not travelled overseas and likely contracted COVID-19 in the community, Ms Mikakos said.
Only one new case of coronavirus was reported in Victoria in the past 24 hours.
“This is a very promising result, we have seen a stabilisation of the numbers in recent days and, in fact, there have been no further cases of community transmission,” she said.
New case count remains low in NSW
Five new cases of COVID-19 were reported in NSW on Thursday, for the second consecutive day.
They took the state’s coronavirus tally to 2979, including 21 people in intensive care.
Elsewhere, NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said specialist doctors and nurses had been deployed to the 95-resident Newmarch House in Caddens.
The home has 29 residents and 15 staff confirmed with COVID-19, and 55 staff in isolation.
The federal government has activated a “surge workforce”, including an emergency response team, to support the home’s operator, Anglicare.
On Wednesday, Aged Care and Senior Australians Minister Richard Colbeck said Anglicare would call a resident and family meeting on Thursday.
Representatives from the Department of Health, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, and the Older Persons Advocacy Network will attend.
National deputy chief health officer Paul Kelly said unlimited workforce support had been offered to help the home cope with having a large number of residents with COVID-19 and many staff absent due to close contact with a coronavirus case.
“We’re really scratching around to have adequate staff there. Today we’re happy we’ve got a good number of RNs (registered nurses), a little short on carers. We have been reaching out to agencies locally,” Anglicare chief executive Grant Millard told ABC TV.
Strict isolation protocols are in place for residents.
A 92-year-old woman was the latest death at Newmarch House on Tuesday. The deaths of a 75-year-old man at St George Hospital and an 80-year-old woman at Gosford Hospital brought the NSW toll to 33.
No new deaths were reported on Thursday.
New cases in Tasmania
Four new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Tasmania overnight, all in the state’s north-west cluster.
Two are workers at either the North West Regional Hospital or North West Private Hospital in Burnie, the centre of the region’s outbreak.
One of the new cases is a contact of a confirmed case, while the fourth is under investigation.
More than half of Tasmania’s 205 cases are linked to the north-west outbreak that forced authorities to close both hospitals, quarantine staff and enact tough social restrictions in the region.
Public health director Mark Veitch said anyone in the state’s north-west with virus symptoms, such as a runny nose, cough or sore throat, should contact authorities and arrange testing.
Eight people have died from the virus in Tasmania and 77 have recovered.
-with AAP
