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A Melbourne aged care home where 45 residents died from Covid-19 has reported a second outbreak, just one day after being charged by the workplace safety watchdog.
On Tuesday, the Victorian health department confirmed that 14 residents and one staff member had tested positive at St Basil's Home for the Aged.
The Fawkner facility, located in Melbourne's north, has been provided with Commonwealth support including an onsite infection prevention and control assessment from a clinical first responder.
On Monday, WorkSafe Victoria charged the facility with nine breaches of the Workplace Health and Safety Act over its handling of a deadly outbreak.
In July 2020, 45 people died from Covid-19 at St Basil's while another five died as a result of neglect, including dehydration.
During the mass outbreak, more than 200 cases of COVID-19 were identified across the facility, with 94 residents testing positive.
WorkSafe alleges that St Basil's failed to require workers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) after a staff member notified management they tested positive.
The watchdog claims that St Basil's did not teach staff how to safely wear PPE or tell them how and when they should use it.
If found guilty, St Basil’s could be fined $1.49m for each of the alleged offences.
The charges relating to that outbreak are due to be heard at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on August 1.
As of 1 July, there are 5,011 active Covid-19 cases and 627 active outbreaks in residential aged care facilities across Australia.
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Feel very sorry for them, I think they are a scape goat for the stuff up made by all State and Commonwealth officials. No one knew what they were doing back in 2020.