A ROBINVALE woman has died from COVID and three others from the region remain in hospital with the virus, as new cases continue to surge in the Mallee.
The woman died in a Melbourne intensive care unit, according to health sources.
Robinvale District Health Service (RDHS) COVID-19 lead Anita Erlandsen said 40 people had recently recovered, while 25 people remained unwell with COVID-19 in Robinvale specifically and 16 in Euston.
State Government data revealed yesterday that there were four new cases for the 3549 postcode area which covered areas such as Robinvale, Tol Tol, Wandown, Wemen and Bannerton.
This brought the numbers of current active cases for the area to 36.
Elsewhere in the region, Swan Hill registered three additional cases which brought the number of active cases up to eight, with one active case also in Tresco.
There are now 47 active cases in the Swan Hill local government area.
North of the Murray there were 11 current cases in the Murray River LGA.
Victoria recorded 5137 new cases yesterday, bringing the active count to 23,833.
Close to 400 people are battling the virus in hospital, including 55 in ICU.
Ms Erlandsen said RDHS was testing daily from 9am to noon, but the hours could change in the coming days due to the heat.
“We are asking people to patient as we have limited capacity for testing and to pre-register for the test,” Ms Erlandsen said.
“We do have some rapid antigen tests available for household contacts.”
Before Christmas, the RDHS COVID-19 lead expressed concern that case numbers would grow over the Christmas break as the state was able to catch up and process tests from those travelling for the holidays.
Ms Erlandsen said one of the suspected events behind the recent spike was a family function, but that there were now cases beyond that community.
There is no suggestion anyone had done anything illegal or broke any restrictions.
“The Health Department do not believe there is any of the Omicron variety in the region at present,” Ms Erlandsen said.
“They are conducting random genomic testing and if that evolves we will update the community via social media.
“The aged care facilities in town have not been locked down, although entry remains restricted and rapid testing has been conducted on visitors.
“In the last fortnight, the (health) department have also administered COVID-19 boosters to residents.”
Ms Erlandsen said the hospital was particularly grateful for assistance from Mildura Base Hospital, as its staff monitored more stable patients with phone calls and medication as needed, especially while Robinvale was partially shut down over Christmas.
Meanwhile, a Swan Hill District Health spokesperson said it had changed the hours of testing to manage the upcoming heat for the staff and community.
Clinic opening hours for today and Sunday are 7.30am to 9.30am.
“We very much thank our testing staff who have been seeing a large number of community accessing the service,” the spokesperson said.
“(Our) advice is to continue following COVID-19 safe measures of physical distancing, hand washing, use of masks where required, and be kind.
“Continue having the COVID-19 vaccination and boosters and continue to come forward for testing if you are experiencing symptoms.”
Swan Hill Mayor Jade Benham, who was among local people forced to self-isolate before Christmas as potential contacts, said she was concerned for the wellbeing of residents and repeated the message that vaccinations were the only effective way to manage the impact of the virus.
“I think this is life with COVID now,” Cr Benham said, adding that no one wanted to go back to lockdowns and heavy restrictions.
“We have to learn to live with it. We can’t continue with things the way they’ve been.”
Cr Benham said that apart from the obvious health concerns about a virus outbreak, she and other community leaders had been worried that many residents in isolation did not have access to a range of home delivery or click-and-collect services available in larger rural cities such as Mildura.
Swan Hill Council and local agencies have mobilised assistance to make sure everyone in isolation can get supplies.
