Victorian health authorities are investigating a cluster of coronavirus cases at an aged care facility, with five cases in total over the past six weeks.
Seven new cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Victoria on Thursday, with the chief health officer, Professor Brett Sutton, revealing a cluster had emerged at the Hawthorn Grange aged care home in Melbourne’s east.
“[Aged care facilities] are places where you absolutely need to act down on it immediately and that really means extensive testing, including individuals with no symptoms,” he told radio 3AW.
The Victorian health and human services department said five cases had been identified at the facility so far.
“In total, one staff member and four residents have tested positive for coronavirus to date,” the department said in a statement. “All staff and residents have been tested for coronavirus and all contacts are being traced.
“We are working closely with the facility to ensure appropriate public health actions have been taken, including isolation, quarantine, cleaning and contact tracing.”
It is understood the first case at the home was identified in March, and that contact tracing and quarantining were put in place at that time. It was not until three weeks later that a second case was identified, which led to all staff and residents being tested.
The expanded testing identified the three new cases reported on Thursday. The department is understood to be investigating if the first and second cases are linked.
All residents in the facility are currently isolated and confined to their rooms, there are no new admissions or visitors to the facility and cleaning has been undertaken by the department.
Hawthorn Grange has 12 beds in its aged care facility and 42 dwellings in its retirement village.
The Victorian minister for ageing, Luke Donnellan, said it was not yet known how many people at the centre might have the virus or whether people would need to be moved out of the facility.
“It’s very early on,” he said. “To date we haven’t had outbreaks like with NSW. I very much hope that that remains like that.”
