Health authorities investigate 17 coronavirus clusters

Undetected cases of coronavirus have invaded state-wide hospitals and health services, sending dozens of health workers to quarantine.

In some cases, patients and staff are vocally concerned about poor communication and inadequate screening at the facility.

The outbreak at Albert Road Clinic, a private psychiatric institution near the CBD in Melbourne that appeared last Friday, was also associated with 16 cases involving multiple patients and staff.

Era He was informed by an asymptomatic psychiatrist who worked unknowingly and brought in an infection. Outbreak investigations are ongoing.

Since then, many staff have expressed concern that psychiatrists who treat patients in clinics work in both the private and public sectors, not because the virus has unknowingly spread to healthcare services. I am worried about my concerns.

As a result of the cluster, at least 3 people were hospitalized.

The clinic closed the door for two weeks on Monday and was moved to Alfred Hospital in anger, saying that all patients had a “horrible” lack of communication and transparency from doctors and their families.

Six staff at the Frankston Department of Radiology also tested positive for COVID-19 in early April. An 82-year-old Victorian woman who was a radiology patient later died of a positive reaction.

A patient who had an emergency surgery at Sunshine Hospital last Thursday also tested positive this week. The incident circumvented 24 potentially infected staff. According to the ministry, so far no one has tested positive for the virus.

Era Also in March, it was revealed that 5 cancer patients and 10 staff in Alfred’s cancer ward were infected with COVID-19. Three of the patients later died.

Over 100 staff at the hospital were quarantined. The cause of its occurrence is still unknown.

Meanwhile, at the University of Melbourne, at least three coronavirus infections were associated with the cluster.

A UK mathematician infected with the virus, but still asymptomatic, gave a guest lecture at a university and infected at least one man. Then he visited a colleague and he was infected. The colleague in turn infected his wife.

On March 14, a birthday party at the Eaglemont Cellar and Wine Bar in northeast Melbourne was also linked to a cluster of incidents, infecting at least five staff.

Wine bar owners said that a significant number of guests, mainly from the UK, traveled abroad to attend the event the night before the enforced two-week quarantine of international travelers took place. It was.

The cluster is a warning sign that the threat of COVID-19 remains and shows how rapidly COVID-19 spreads despite the flattening of the infection curve, says Westmead Clinical. Says Richard Lindley, a professor of geriatrics at the school.

“In nursing homes, people are very intimate. Infection control is difficult. The virus can be on the surface and survive for hours or days, and staff must enter and leave nursing homes. “.

“We are not yet outside the forest. One case in an NSW nursing home went up to 50 within a few weeks. If those people were not tracked and quarantined, it would be 1000 per week. Could be. Escalate very quickly. “

The confirmed number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Victoria increased to 1364 after three new cases were diagnosed on Friday. Nationwide, the confirmed cases have increased to 6,675.

Of these 1364, only 140 infections were found in the community-indicating that the virus has rarely spread. According to the government, over 123,500 tests have been conducted.

No new deaths were reported on Friday, and the state’s death toll is 18.

Sixteen people remain in Victoria’s hospitals, including seven receiving intensive care, and nearly 1,300 have recovered from the virus.