A Melbourne aged care worker has been diagnosed with coronavirus just days after working at a nursing home with vulnerable residents.
The Assisi Centre staff member last worked on Wednesday at the home in Rosanna, in Melbourne's north-east, ahead of developing any symptoms.
Assisi Centre in Rosanna.Credit:Wayne Hawkins
Assisi Centre chief executive Paul Cohen informed families of the diagnosis on Monday, but said health authorities had deemed the case low-risk.
"I am sorry to inform you that one of our staff, who last worked in St Claire on Wednesday March 25, has today tested positive for COVID-19. She is the first one of our staff to test positive for the virus," Mr Cohen said in a letter, supplied to Nine News and seen by The Age.
"We discussed the matter with the Department of Health this morning and have been told they do not consider this case to be a risk to our residents. This is because she became unwell two days after her last shift. Despite this, I wanted to let you know."
No residents have tested positive to the coronavirus, but Mr Cohen said Assisi Centre had increased screening and cleaning.
In Sydney, four residents of aged care facility Dorothy Henderson Lodge have died from the coronavirus.
The Rosanna aged care worker is the ninth healthcare worker in Victoria to test positive, on top of four staff at Mercy Hospital, three at The Alfred Hospital and a Toorak GP.
The case is the first-known diagnosis at a Victorian nursing home.
Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he was not aware of the case, but said authorities were closely monitoring aged care.
"Certainly nursing homes are a huge risk, we understand the vulnerability of everyone who lives in nursing homes, it's a closed setting so transmission becomes really difficult to manage," Dr Sutton told Nine News.
He said aged care staff who feel unwell should immediately self-isolate.
"It doesn't mean that we're going to have an outbreak if a staff member has become unwell."
Assisi Centre specialises in aged care for the Italian community.
'It doesn't mean that we're going to have an outbreak if a staff member has become unwell.'
On March 14, an online update from Mr Cohen said that staff who had travelled to high-risk countries would not be rostered for two weeks.
"We are suspending external lifestyle activities including visits by the kindergarten children and the men's choir."
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