COVID updates

19th January 2023

Meet EVA
Easy Vaccine Access (EVA) is a service where an EVA phone operator can call you back and, in your language, assist you with making a COVID-19 vaccination booking.

You can also use the service if you want to talk to a health expert about COVID-19 treatments.

More information about EVA is available in 63 languages in the flyer and social tile below:

Flyer: Meet EVA

Social tile: EVA call back service

Multicultural Health Connect
Get expert health advice in your language with the Multicultural Health Connect helpline. 

Call 1800 186 815 for help with: getting free health advice from a nursefinding nearby services that can help youfinding doctors, hospitals, support, and community health centres.You can call the helpline from Monday to Friday, 11am to 7pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT).

More information about Multicultural Health Connect is available at this link.

17th October
Health updates from Health Translations covering a number of topics including COVID.
Health Translations provides complete collection of multilingual health and wellbeing information.

14th October
The Victorian Government has made changes to COVID-19 requirements to align with decisions agreed to by all states and territories at National Cabinet. The Pandemic Declaration ended at 11.59pm on Wednesday 12 October 2022.
Isolation recommendations
Victorians are no longer required to isolate after testing positive to COVID-19. Isolation for positive cases is now strongly recommended.
Close contacts
Requirements for close contacts, like continually testing negative on a rapid antigen test, are now strong recommendations.
Face masks
The strong recommendation to wear a face mask indoors remains in place.

6th October 2022
Information pack for multicultural communities about COVID-19 vaccines. This information pack includes COVID-19 vaccines resources for multicultural communities, translated in up to 63 languages.

Information pack for multicultural communities about COVID-19
This information pack includes COVID-19 resources for multicultural communities, translated in up to 63 languages.
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17th August 2022

COVID 19 latest update translated in multiple languages

Translated resources featured in this month’s information pack:

  • COVID-19 health and safety tips
  • Rapid antigen tests (RATs)
  • What to do after testing positive for COVID-19
  • Oral treatments for COVID-19

22nd July 2022

The Australian Technical Advisory Group (ATAGI) has updated their advice for a fourth dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. You are eligible for a free fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose 3 months after your booster dose if you are:

·       50 years or older

·       live in an aged care or disability care facility

·       severely immunocompromised (this will be your fifth dose)

·       16 years or older and with a medical condition that increases the risk of severe COVID-19 illness

·       16 years or older with a disability with significant or complex health needs or multiple comorbidities which increases risk of poor outcome.

People aged 30 to 49 years old can get the fourth dose if they choose. The information has been translated in more than 60 languages:

·       Fact sheet – Fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose

·       COVID-19 vaccination – When to get your COVID-19 vaccination

More people are now eligible to access oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19. These oral treatments can be life saving for people at high risk of severe illness from the COVID-19 virus, and can be taken at home.

You may be eligible for oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19 if you are: 

·       70 years and older

·       50 years and older and at risk of severe illness from COVID-19

·       18 years and older and immunocompromised.

For more information, see Fact sheet – Oral antiviral treatments for COVID-19 (available in 60+ languages)

18th June 2022

The Acting Chief Health Officer has provided advice that while some key measures can be safely lifted, others should remain until the end of winter.

From 11.59pm Friday 24 June the following changes to the Pandemic Orders come into effect:

  • Masks must still be worn on public transport, taxis, ride shares, and planes, but will no longer be required at airports. Masks are also still required in sensitive settings such as hospitals and care facilities.
  • Positive cases must still isolate for seven days from the day they took their test but may now leave home to drive a household member directly to or from education or work without leaving their vehicle. They can also leave home to get medical care, a COVID-19 test, or in an emergency, including the risk of harm.
  • To protect the most vulnerable during winter, three COVID-19 vaccine doses are still required for workers in residential aged care and disability care, healthcare, and custodial and emergency services, including police.
  • Government imposed third dose mandates in education, food distribution, meat and seafood processing and quarantine accommodation sectors will be lifted. In line with other jurisdictions around Australia, COVID-19 vaccination policies will be the responsibility of individual workplaces to consider as part of their workplace conditions.
  • Rules requiring general workers to work from home unless they are double-vaccinated are lifted. Employers can consider setting COVID-19 vaccination policies as part of their own workplace conditions.
  • Visitor caps to care facilities, including residential aged care and disability are removed. Residents can see any number of people, provided they test negative on a rapid antigen test that day. If a test is unavailable, a person can only be present for limited reasons such as end-of-life visits. Centres may introduce their own visitor rules to respond to local risk.

More information will be published after the orders come into effect at 11.59pm on Friday 24 June on coronavirus.vic.gov.au or you can call the Business Victoria hotline on 13 22 15.

Premier’s statement here.

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May 2022COVID-19 vaccine resources for multicultural communities (Department of Health website).
Includes translated resources about:
* getting your COVID-19 vaccine after testing positive for the virus
* the latest updates on COVID-19 vaccine dosage intervals
* staying up to date with your COVID-19 vaccinations
* using rapid antigen tests (RATs)