Five years after the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a pandemic in 2020, its impact is still being felt in residential aged care.
The cumulative number of aged care residents that contracted the virus is more than 240,000. There have been more than 25,000 outbreaks, with every aged care home in Australia impacted.
Over the course of the pandemic, 7,318 aged care residents have died from COVID-19. More than 125,000 staff cases have been recorded.
As at 8am 6 March 2025, there were 563 active COVID-19 cases reported in 104 active outbreaks in residential aged care homes across Australia.
UnitingSA Wesley House Aged Care in Semaphore Park, a beachside suburb west of Adelaide, had the highest number of active cases of COVID-19 with 67 people infected.
Older people most at risk
In 2020, 58% of those who died from COVID-19 were aged 85 or older with the pandemic having a particularly devastating impact on residential aged care homes. In 2020, 75% of all reported COVID‑19 deaths were in residential aged care.
There were several residential aged care outbreaks in the first year of the pandemic that gained widespread media coverage, including:
- Dorothy Henderson Lodge, New South Wales, where 17 residents and five staff contracted the virus. Six residents passed away.
- Newmarch House, New South Wales, where 37 residents and 34 staff contracted the virus. 19 residents died.
- St Basil’s Home for the Aged, Victoria, where 94 residents and 94 staff contracted the virus. 45 residents passed away.
- Epping Gardens, Victoria, where 103 residents and 86 staff contracted the virus. 38 residents died.
However, Australian aged care residents fared better than their overseas counterparts. Up until early 2022, 1% of Australian aged care residents died from COVID‑19, compared with 8% in Sweden, 13% in Scotland, and 13% in the United States.
