Victoria records 81 new coronavirus cases and 59 further deaths, including historical aged care fatalities

The delay in confirming the deaths is due to a change in reporting requirements within the aged care sector.(ABC News: Kristian Silva)

Victoria has recorded another 81 cases of COVID-19 and 59 further deaths, including 50 people in aged care who died during July and August.

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) said the delay was due to a recent change in reporting obligations for aged care providers.

It takes the state’s death toll to 650 and is the highest number of deaths added to Australia’s toll in a single day since the pandemic began.

The national death toll now sits at 737.

Historical aged care cases made up a majority of the 41 deaths reported on Monday, the previous highest daily death toll.

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said earlier this week he did “not expect a number anywhere near close to 41 to occur again”.

Victoria’s daily coronavirus case count reached 113 yesterday, the first time figures had risen above 100 since Sunday.

Deputy Chief Health Officer Allen Cheng said while numbers were declining, they were not as low as officials would like them to be.

Premier Daniel Andrews is expected to release more detail on today’s figures at his daily press conference.

Aged care reporting obligations change behind spike

Earlier this week, Professor Sutton said the delay was largely due to a change in the way aged care facilities reported coronavirus deaths.

In early August, the Federal Government strengthened aged care reporting obligations to ensure the Victorian Aged Care Response Centre (VACRC), which was set up to deal with the crisis in aged care, had accurate figures.

Professor Sutton said there had been a catch-up period to ensure the VACRC had “absolutely definitive data” on deaths that occurred in aged care residents with coronavirus.

“Of course all of those deaths have been known to the facility, they have of course been known to the families of those residents,” Professor Sutton said on Monday.

“But we will continue to reconcile with the Commonwealth numbers and to have a single source of truth in terms of reporting that.”

Opposition calls for hospitality to reopen

Mr Andrews has promised to announce the state’s roadmap out of stage 4 lockdown in Melbourne and stage 3 stay-at-home orders in regional Victoria this Sunday.

He yesterday dismissed a draft health document published in the Herald Sun newspaper, which recommended extending lockdown for two weeks, as “out of date”.

But he warned it was an option he could not rule out and said future measures would be guided “by the science and the data”.

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O’Brien has demanded the State Government announce the reopening of restaurants and pubs to diners, arguing there is a low risk of transmission at eating venues.

“Let them reopen safely, put restrictions in place, put density limits, put in COVIDSafe plans, put in whatever needs to be done but give these small businesses a chance to stay alive,” he said.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said he expected more financial support for businesses to be announced after Sunday.

Kirby Institute epidemiologist Raina MacIntyre told ABC News Breakfast a “phased, step by step approach” that gave health authorities time to “assess what the risk is” would be the best way forward.

“So they’ll be able to put the brakes on again or take them off further if it seems that everything is under control,” she said.

Source: abc