10/08/2020
Disturbing evidence has been revealed today by the Morrison Government’s aged care regulator, admitting they knew about an outbreak of COVID-19 at St Basil’s for four days and failed to inform the Department of Health.
This catastrophic communications failure led to a potentially deadly delay in responding to the outbreak of COVID-19 at St Basil’s.
Peter Khalil MP, whose Federal seat of Wills includes the suburb of Fawkner where St Basil’s is located, says this unacceptable delay undoubtedly worsened the ensuing outbreak and cost lives.
“We know that every minute counts when combatting this deadly virus so I have no doubt that this communication bungle contributed to the severity of the outbreak and the subsequent deaths of loved ones at St Basils, which has particularly impacted the Greek-Australian community,” Mr Khalil said.
“We know this Coronavirus is adversely affecting older people – so why wasn’t the Federal Government better prepared to respond to this outbreak? The aged care system was broken even before this pandemic but Covid-19’s devastating impact has stressed it further.
“Vulnerable communities, including elderly Australians, deserve better from the Federal Government,” Mr Khalil said.
ENDS
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