New response centre to target Victoria's aged care outbreaks

A dedicated response centre will be set up in a bid to control coronavirus outbreaks at aged care facilities in Victoria.

There are currently 525 active coronavirus cases spread across 38 Victorian aged care facilities.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said 260 aged care residents were infected with the virus, while 265 staff members were confirmed to have COVID-19.

Read live coronavirus updates here

The Victorian Aged Care Response Centre will be a joint initiative by the State and Federal governments.

The centre will be located at the State Control Centre and oversee quality control, workforce provision and manage emerging outbreaks, Mr Hunt said.

The new response team will be run by Emergency Management Victoria, Emergency Management Australia and VicHealth.

Read more: Everything you need to know about face masks

Joe Buffone, the former chief officer of the Country Fire Authority, will lead the operation.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said keeping infections in aged care under control was extremely difficult once there was significant community transmission of the virus.

"We've always known that aged care is a very challenging setting," Mr Andrews said.

"If you get community transmission and then you have chains of transmission that are driven by staff, then you will see outbreaks. That's exactly the challenge we are facing at the moment.

"It is incredibly difficult to keep this out of aged care settings, particularly with such a transient and flexible and often insecure workforce. That's why moving to single sites and the other steps that we have taken a really very, very important."

Current clusters of COVID 19 at Victorian aged care facilities include:

74 cases linked to St Basil's home for the aged in Fawkner.

71 cases linked to Estia Health in Ardeer.

60 cases linked to Menarock life aged care in Essendon.

40 cases linked to SDR health in Heidelberg.

49 cases linked to Glendale aged care in Werribee.

23 cases linked to Baptcare Wyndham Lodge in Werribee.

22 cases linked to Regis Aged Care in Brighton.

For breaking news alerts and livestreams straight to your smartphone sign up to the 9News app and set notifications to on at the App Store or Google Play.You can also get up-to-date information from the Federal Government's Coronavirus Australia app, available on the App Store, Google Play and the Government's WhatsApp channel.