The Australian Government Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, has widened the Greater Melbourne, Moorabool Shire, City of Greater Geelong, Surf Coast Shire and Borough of Queenscliff Hotspot for the purposes of Commonwealth support to include the Bass Coast Shire LGA, including Phillip Island from 11:59pm on 17 July 2021.
There is no change to the period of the Hotspot, which is in place until 11:59pm 20 July 2021, with review on or before 19 July 2021.
The Hotspot has been widened to include the Bass Coast Shire LGA as three cases visited the LGA during their infectious period between 12 July -15 July 2021. More than 10 exposure sites have been listed for this area, including several popular tourist spots. Numerous sites have been determined to be of the highest risk of transmission (Tier 1) by contact tracing staff in Victoria.
Professor Kelly reminds members of the public of the increased risk of the highly transmissible Delta Variant and requests that they continue to follow the directions of Victoria Health.
Declaring a hotspot for Commonwealth support triggers, if required:
- Provision of PPE from the National Medical Stockpile
- Actions for aged care facilities including PPE, single site workforce supplement and integration of an aged care response centre into the Public Health Emergency Operations Centre
- Assistance with contact tracing
- Asymptomatic testing via General Practice Respiratory Clinics
- Reprioritisation of vaccine supplies
- Access to COVID Disaster Payment, if eligibility criteria are met.
- Two Medicare Benefits Schedule items for longer telehealth consultations
