One of Melbourne's biggest hospitals has sent about 100 of its staff into self-isolation as the fallout from a deadly COVID-19 cluster among inpatients widens.

Key points: Victoria now has 1,085 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 49 added overnight

Victoria now has 1,085 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 49 added overnight Another man in his 80s has died, taking the state's death toll to seven

Another man in his 80s has died, taking the state's death toll to seven It follows two deaths yesterday, including one linked to a cluster of cases at The Alfred hospital

The Alfred said about 100 staff from its haematology and oncology ward had been sent home to self-isolate for 14 days following the deaths of three patients who had contracted COVID-19.

Staff at The Alfred and some other hospitals have also been advised to wear separate clothes when travelling to and from work to help prevent the virus from spreading to their homes.

As of yesterday, at least 10 staff from The Alfred have tested positive for COVID-19, and two other patients with the virus remained in a stable condition.

A spokesperson said the hospital continued to "follow guidelines by the Department of Health and Human Services in relating to testing and self-isolation".

The news came after Victoria's Chief Health Officer called for vigilance around physical-distancing measures after the number of suspected community transmissions of coronavirus in the state nearly quadrupled in a week.

Seven people are in intensive care in Victoria after contracting coronavirus. ( ABC Melbourne: Kristian Silva, file photo )

Victoria now has 62 confirmed COVID-19 cases suspected of being transmitted through the community, up from just 16 last Friday.

Community transmissions are when people contract the virus, but health authorities are unable to trace the spread of the disease back to someone who has arrived in Australia from overseas.

"It's increased a lot in recent days. It was under 30 just a few days ago," Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton told Channel Nine this morning.

"We have to keep an eye on that. We have to understand that it's the physical distancing that we're putting in place that's going to make a difference in that regard.

"These people aren't easy to identify. They could be on the streets now. And many of them might have mild symptoms and … not think they've got coronavirus when in fact they do."

Premier establishes 'crisis council' of Cabinet

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on Friday established a "crisis council" of the state's Cabinet to streamline the Government's response to COVID-19.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 1 minute 47 seconds 1 m 47 s Daniel Andrews says he is trying to avoid scenes of "unbearable tragedy" from New York, Spain and Italy.

Mr Andrews said the council, which was sworn in Friday, would assume the coordination functions across each of the Government's departments.

"[It will] make sure we are nimble, agile, [that] there is real urgency to the decisions we make," the Premier said.

"We've all got to make sure that we bring the best decision making, the quickest decision making, not just to get through the crisis but to rebuild on the other side."

The seven ministers joining the Premier on the council are James Merlino, Tim Pallas, Jacinta Allan, Jenny Mikakos, Jill Hennessy, Martin Pakula and Lisa Neville.

Mr Andrews said disruptions were likely to continue for "months" not weeks, and thanked Victorians for the sacrifices they had made.

"I can't tell you when this is going to end, and I certainly don't want anyone to think that because we've got some reasonable stability at the moment that we're out of the woods," he said.

"What I can do is point you to what failure looks like. Turn on your TV and have a look at New York, have a look at Washington state, have a look at Italy, France and Spain … it's tragedy, it's just unbearable tragedy."

Victoria's death toll rises to seven

Victoria's new COVID-19 crisis council came after a man in his 80s with COVID-19 died while in intensive care at a Melbourne hospital, taking the state's death toll to seven.

Twelve other deaths have been recorded in New South Wales, three in Queensland, and five in other states and territories, for a national total of 27.

Victoria COVID-19 snapshot Confirmed cases so far: 19,728

Confirmed cases so far: 19,728 Confirmed active cases: 1,483

Confirmed active cases: 1,483 Deaths: 701

Deaths: 701 Suspected cases of community transmission where the source is unknown: 4,306

Suspected cases of community transmission where the source is unknown: 4,306 Cases in hospital: 169

Cases in hospital: 169 Intensive care patients: 17

Intensive care patients: 17 Active cases in regional Victoria: 72

Active cases in regional Victoria: 72 Active cases in healthcare workers: 251

Active cases in healthcare workers: 251 Active cases linked to aged care outbreaks: 763

Active cases linked to aged care outbreaks: 763 Tests since pandemic began: More than 2.44 million Updated Thursday September 10 Latest Victorian Government info

Professor Sutton said another seven people were in intensive care in Victoria.

Victoria recorded two deaths yesterday, one of which was linked to the cluster of cases among inpatients at The Alfred.

Goulburn Valley Health on Friday confirmed that one of its patients had died after contracting COVID-19, but would not release further details to protect the patient's privacy.

The state has now recorded 1,085 cases of COVID-19, including 49 which were added overnight.

As of 6:00am Friday, there were 5,224 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Australia, an increase of 248 cases over 24 hours.

The majority of confirmed cases in all states were acquired overseas.

Nearly 40 fines issued for breaches of physical distancing

Victoria Police issued another 16 fines for breaches of physical-distancing restrictions in the last 24 hours, taking the total to 39.

Police also carried out 783 checks on returning travellers, and found 59 people who should have been self-isolating were not at home.

But police said they were still investigating whether the 59 people had actually breached self-isolation rules or not.

Overall, police have conducted 11,834 checks since March 21.

One of the businesses fined in recent days was a brothel operating in the Geelong area.

Police said the business was so busy it created a "traffic jam" in the street.

China Bar in Fitzroy was the first business to be hit with an on-the-spot fine of nearly $10,000 for breaching physical-distancing restrictions.

Chief Health Officer backs release of detailed modelling

Professor Sutton earlier told Channel Nine's Today program that he supported releasing more of the detailed modelling that Australia's health authorities were basing their decisions on.

"I think one thing to emphasise is that people need to be motivated to do the right thing," he said.

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton said he supported the public release of more detailed modelling. ( ABC News )

"Modelling will be a bit of a kick up the backside for people to understand that this represents a really genuine, catastrophic threat."

However, he said some might be concerned about it being misinterpreted.

"There's a saying all models are wrong. Some are more wrong than others. People take them literally," he said.

Professor Sutton added that Europe and the United States had acted too late and were now being hit hard while Australia had a window to avoid a "really genuine catastrophic threat".

Stay up-to-date on the coronavirus outbreak Download the ABC News app and subscribe to our range of news alerts for the latest on how the pandemic is impacting the world

He said while the testing being used by Australian health authorities was not perfect it was still "pretty good".

"If we can get a rapid point of care test or bedside test, all the better. We need to be sure that it's going to be reliable," he said.

Non-medical hospital staff resigning over lack of protective equipment

The Health Workers Union, which represents Victorian aged care, disability and personal care workers, as well as clerical and administrative hospital staff, said as many as 11 non-medical health workers had already contracted the virus.

Union secretary Diana Asmar said protective equipment was being kept for doctors and nurses, leaving non-medical workers exposed.

"Our workers are told, 'Sorry, we can't give you anything.' Not even sanitisers, because they need to save [them] for the doctors and nurses," she said.

"We know that in Box Hill Hospital, there are about five or six [workers who have contracted the virus]. At Mercy Werribee Hospital there were three or four.

"And in the aged care sector, one of our workers at Assisi Aged Care."

Ms Asmar said many workers were scared to go to work.

"There's people as we speak resigning. It's really frightening — it's a nightmare out there."

Rural health care could 'be in serious trouble'

The chief executive of the Wimmera Health Care Group, Catherine Morley, this morning expressed concern that regional health services would not be able to cope under a "worst case" coronavirus scenario.

"[The modelling] shows that we're going to be in serious trouble and we haven't got the resources — the machines and the beds and the space as well as the staff — to deal with it," Ms Morley told ABC Radio Melbourne this morning.

Regional hospitals have limited intensive-care capabilities and ventilators. ( ABC Central Victoria: Larissa Romensky )

She said the health service was planning for a scenario in which five to 10 people were being admitted to hospital per day.

"But we're hoping people follow the guidelines and that curve flattens and we'll have a manageable response available to us in the near future," she said.

She agreed that worst-case scenario could be avoided if people abided by the physical-distancing rules now in place across the state.

Ms Morley, who was previously chief executive of Rural Northwest Health, added that rural areas had more older people and people with existing health problems that made them more vulnerable to COVID-19 so there was a greater need for equipment like ventilators than in metropolitan areas.

The Wimmera Health Care Group had four ventilators in Horsham but wanted more, she said.

Concern for elders driving anxiety in Aboriginal communities

An Aboriginal health service in Melbourne's north says it has found itself "completely overwhelmed" by demand.

First Peoples' Health and Wellbeing has moved the bulk of its consults to telehealth and ramped up flu vaccinations.

It's also running a COVID-19 testing service, which chief executive Karinda Taylor believes is the first to be run by a Melbourne Aboriginal health service.

The clinic is only seeing patients face to face after a telephone triage by a doctor. Every patient is being treated as potentially infected with the virus, resulting in a high demand for protective equipment.

Ms Taylor said the team, which is based in Thomastown with outreach work in Frankston, was in urgent need of more funding and support.

"We've looked at [approaching] catering companies to get gowns, and it just shouldn't be the case," she said.

Karinda Taylor said the organisation was ramping up its services to meet a surge in demand. ( ABC News: Joseph Dunstan, file photo )

The service was one of several Aboriginal organisations which met with the Victorian Government on Friday to find urgent solutions to the impact of the pandemic on the community.

Clinical director Peter Walsh said there had been a "massive increase" in patients presenting with anxiety as the pandemic and shutdown measures hit.

He said crowded housing, existing financial pressures and anxiety over the virus's potential impact on vulnerable elders was having an impact on patients.

"Even though people are not talking about this overtly so much, it's the great elephant in the room. [There is] a lot of concern for vulnerable relatives as well," Dr Walsh said.

The Federal Government has included Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over 50 in the same risk category as the nation's most vulnerable and elderly citizens, in recognition of the health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

The Government has covered telehealth consultations under Medicare in response to the pandemic and has allocated funding to set up 100 dedicated GP respiratory clinics across Australia.

Shutdown could leave 'hundreds of thousands' without work: CFMEU

The construction union, meanwhile, has called for a step up in physical distancing on work sites to avoid a potential shutdown.

"We need a full commitment from the principal contractors and employers in relation to this and we need discipline among the workforce to ensure this is done," CFMEU national secretary Dave Noonan said.

"If the health authorities deem the industry can't work, the industry will be bound by that."

The CFMEU is calling on construction workers and employers to abide by physical-distancing regulations. ( ABC News )

Two construction workers in Melbourne have tested positive for the virus: one at a Multiplex site at Southbank and another at a Kane Constructions site at the University of Melbourne's Parkville campus.

Mr Noonan said the industry would abide by any government directives to stand down, but calls for an immediate shutdown were premature.

"Those calling for a sudden or urgent shutdown need to consider this: how long do they want the industry to shut for? Under what circumstances would they want the industry to reopen?" he said.

"You'd see hundreds of thousands, possibly a million Australians, having to cease work."

The call came as toll road operator Transurban said it would provide a three-month toll credit to qualifying drivers impacted by COVID-19.

"This includes people who have lost their jobs, or experienced a significant reduction in their working hours, as well as healthcare workers, aged and disability carers and emergency services personnel," a spokesperson said in a statement.

"We urge anyone who needs help to contact us."