Victoria's Chief Health Officer has expressed concern about hospital workers, who has he called the "last line of defence", being among Victoria's rising coronavirus case numbers.
Key points:
- Five staff from The Alfred Hospital are believed to have acquired the virus in the community, while three infections were found through contact tracing
- Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton says the risk for healthcare workers "can't be mitigated down to zero"
- More public housing tower residents, including those not part of the "hard lockdown", have contracted COVID-19
His comments came as residents of public housing towers which were not part of last week's "hard lockdown" were reported as some of the 273 new coronavirus cases recorded in Victoria.
There have been two coronavirus-related deaths in the state in as many days, and the number of patients in hospital has continued to steadily rise.
Eight healthcare workers at The Alfred Hospital have now tested positive to COVID-19, in what is the second outbreak at the hospital since the pandemic began.
The hospital said five staff were believed to have acquired the virus in the community, while three cases were detected through contact tracing.
Currently no patients have contracted the virus within the hospital.
The infectious diseases ward now has a concierge at the entrance to log staff and the hospital has doubled its cleaning resources.
In March, three cancer patients died after contracting COVID-19 at The Alfred, while another two patients and 10 staff were also infected.
A number of healthcare workers across many of Melbourne's busiest hospitals have contracted the virus in recent days, and concerns have been raised about personal protective equipment (PPE).
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said there were two infections linked to Box Hill Hospital. The number of cases connected to the Brunswick Private Hospital, which closed its doors to new admissions on Thursday, is now at 11.
Premier Daniel Andrews said authorities needed "every Victorian to acknowledge that you are on the front line".
"Don't leave it to nurses and doctors to be the last line of defence," he said.
"You are on the front line with me and my family and every family, and we all need to make smart choices for ourselves and each other.
Professor Sutton said "it's a concern" to see numbers rising in hospitals across Melbourne.
He says workers have PPE available to them and "know what to do", but "it is a risk that can't be mitigated down to zero".
The past week has also seen a rise in cases linked to patients and staff from aged care facilities.
Professor Sutton said the new cases were linked to Menarock Life Aged Care in Essendon and Glendale Aged Care in Werribee.
Australia's 107th coronavirus death, great-grandfather Alf Jordan, was a resident at the Glendale home.
A total of 207 staff and 277 residents were tested this week, Glendale Aged Care director of operations Glenn Hannock said.
New cases have been linked to the La Manna grocery in Essendon, a LinFox distribution centre in Truganina and the JBS abattoir.
Public housing residents in Carlton test positive
There are now 237 positive test results among residents of the nine public housing towers in Flemington and Kensington which were locked down last Saturday.
One of the nine towers, at 33 Alfred St in North Melbourne, remains under the "hard lockdown" due to fears as much as 25 per cent of the population could contract the virus.
The remaining eight towers are now under the same stage three stay-at-home orders as the rest of metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell Shire.
There are now 28 infections linked to public housing towers in Carlton, which were not placed under the strict restrictions on Saturday.
"These are challenging settings for the structural issues that are at play there and the fact that they are in hotspot areas in terms of transmission," Professor Sutton said.
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2020-07-12 04:55:00Z
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