A second resident of Arcare's aged care facility in Maidstone, in Melbourne's west, has tested positive for coronavirus.
Key points:
- The 89-year-old is asymptomatic, but has been taken to hospital
- Senate Estimates heard the resident had been fully vaccinated
- The rollout of second doses of the vaccine were brought forward to this week after a worker tested positive
A worker tested positive to COVID-19 on Saturday, sending the home into lockdown.
On Monday it was confirmed a resident, the son of the worker and a second worker tested positive.
The first resident, a woman who is asymptomatic, was taken to hospital.
The second worker had done shifts at the BlueCross Western Gardens aged care home in Sunshine on May 26, 27 and 28.
That home was also locked down while testing and contact tracing took place. The federal government, which oversees private aged care, has since requested workers stick to one location.
Arcare confirmed the second resident to test positive as an 89-year-old, the cousin of the first resident and living in an adjacent room.
"They will be transferred to hospital for public health reasons, coordinated by the Victorian Department of Health," Arcare CEO Colin Singh said in a statement.
Mr Singh said residents and staff would continue to be tested every two days for the first week of the outbreak.
Resident had been fully vaccinated, minister says
AAP: James Ross
)Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck told the Senate Estimates Committee the resident had received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Residents at the home who had opted to be vaccinated had just received their second dose on Monday.
The resident had tested indeterminate, then negative, then positive 48 hours later, Senator Colbeck said.
The vaccination of aged care residents and staff has been in the spotlight this week, with Senator Colbeck yesterday saying he was "comfortable" only about 10 per cent of the workforce had been vaccinated.
It was also revealed the government did not know how many workers had received a dose.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has asked the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee to consider whether to make vaccination mandatory for the aged care workforce.
The infection is in addition to the six cases recorded in the state on Tuesday and announced by the health department today. The case will be counted in the numbers announced on Thursday morning.
Three clusters where source is a mystery
The Arcare worker who first contracted the virus is being treated as a mystery case, without a known source.
Genomic testing has confirmed the female health professional does have the same Kappa strain of the virus linked to the Melbourne outbreak.
The Arcare cluster is one of three points in the outbreak where transmission links remain unclear.
Authorities are still trying to establish how the infection spread from a Wollert man infected in South Australian hotel quarantine to a cluster of cases that were detected in the City of Whittlesea weeks later.
Today, COVID-19 response commander Jeroen Weimar said authorities were running blood tests for coronavirus on people who were on the flight from Adelaide to Melbourne with the Wollert man.
Contact tracers are also still determining how a family of four who travelled up to New South Wales a week ago could be linked to the outbreak.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said it was not yet clear which member of the family was the index case, and how their infection could be linked back to the broader outbreak.
There are about 5,200 primary close contacts who have been identified as the outbreak continues to grow.
By Wednesday afternoon, 77.8 per cent had returned a negative test result.
"There are 189 primary close contacts linked to a network of community grocery stores and retail outlets in the Northern Suburbs, and in Dandenong, with 169 negative results received so far," the Department of Health's daily update said.
"Of seven schools and higher education settings that have also been linked to positive cases, 434 primary close contacts are identified and over 300 negative results received."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMibGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIxLTA2LTAyL3NlY29uZC1hcmNhcmUtbWFpZHN0b25lLXJlc2lkZW50LXRlc3RzLXBvc2l0aXZlLXRvLWNvdmlkLTE5LzEwMDE4NTY0NNIBKGh0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMDAxODU2NDQ?oc=5
2021-06-02 05:52:48Z
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