Nine patients were still in intensive care, the minister said on Thursday. Three were in a critical condition.
“I’m pleased we haven’t had more deaths than what we have had ... but those deaths are four deaths too many,” Hennessy said.
Monday evening’s thunderstorm saw extreme winds and air moisture break pollen particles up into small enough pieces to enter peoples lungs.
Clarence Leo, a father-of two from Noble Park, Apollo Papadopoulos, 35, Hope Carnevali, 20, and year-12 student Omar Moujalled all died following asthma attacks believed to have been triggered by the weather, a rare event described as “thunderstorm asthma”.
The inspector general of emergency management will lead a statewide review of the emergency response to the event, with emergency departments and paramedics stretched due to a spike in calls for help and in asthma attacks.
Paramedics dealt with an unprecedented 1,900 emergency calls in five hours on Monday evening and hundreds more people streamed into hospitals. It led to long delays in ambulance response times.
The review will be an extensive examination of how Victoria’s emergency services and health system responded to, and managed, the emergency, and help services better prepare for and respond in the future.
“This was a health emergency of an unprecedented scale and we have an obligation to ensure that we learn every lesson there is to learn from this event,” Hennessy said.
“This review will make sure that should this, or an event of a similar scale, ever occur again we have the right systems, measures and resources in place to provide the very best response.”
Moujalled’s death was confirmed by his school, the Australian International Academy in Coburg. In a Facebook post, the school wrote: “It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we inform you of the death of Omar Moujalled, one of our year 12 students.
“Sadly, he passed away last night from a medical condition.”
A GoFundMe page has been set up by Leo’s family to raise money for his funeral.
“Our brother Clarence was a father, husband, son and friend to many,” family wrote on the page. “We are overwhelmed with everyone’s love, support and offers of assistance.”
Meanwhile, relatives of Carnevali, a law student, told Seven News Melbourne it took more than 40 minutes for an ambulance to arrive.
“Just knowing that, if they had of gotten there a little earlier, that the situation might be different, is very hard to deal with,” her aunt, Melissa Carnevali, said.
A department of health spokesman said Melbourne hospitals treated more than 8,500 patients across Monday night and Tuesday.
“There continues to be patients in metropolitan Melbourne intensive care units associated with this event, with three in a critical condition,” he said.
“This was an unexpected and tragic occurrence and we are monitoring the ongoing condition of those in the care of our hospitals.
“We are aware of a number of deaths that may be associated with thunderstorm asthma.
“Due to the complex nature and scale of the event further comment is not appropriate until a cause of death has been attributed for these cases.”
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