The Department of Health and Human Services has released a four-stage pandemic response plan for the State’s health sector as efforts ramp up to protect Victorians from the impact of COVID-19.
Announced by the Chief Health Officer, Dr Brett Sutton, the COVID-19 Pandemic Plan for the Victorian Health Sector aims to reduce the virus’s impact on the public.
“Victoria has a world-class health system that is well-prepared to deal with an outbreak,” Dr Sutton said.
“With successful measures reducing the impact of COVID-19 in other parts of the world, Victoria must learn from these lessons and act early and decisively in limiting the disease’s spread,” he said.
“Reducing the peak of cases is vital to maintaining the overall capacity of our health system.”
Dr Sutton said the first and current stage of the plan focused on containment, identifying any possible cases and isolating those who were infectious, as well as their close contacts.
He said further stages of the plan set out actions to slow the spread of COVID-19, manage demand on hospital resources, respond to a severe outbreak and recover as quickly as possible.
“These measures may be disruptive and wide-ranging, including dedicated coronavirus wards in hospitals, increasing telehealth medical consultations, cancelling large public gatherings or closing schools and universities,” he said.
“None of these decisions will be taken lightly and must be proportionate to the threat.”
On Wednesday (11 March) the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic.
The Department’s 30-page response plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
