Seven people died over the past two weeks, and an eighth was not expected to survive, after the Influenza A virus spread through the facility and affected 123 elderly residents and staff members.

Mr Wyatt said the government was considering various responses to what has become the biggest flu season on record across Australia, possibly including compulsory vaccinations for all aged care workers.

"No option is ruled off the table because the paramount thing for the Turnbull government is that we protect citizens in our country from any form of virulent infection," he said in a press conference on Saturday.

"Let's not expose people to a potential health problem that could see them losing their life.”

Mr Wyatt encouraged people to get vaccinations if they were regularly coming into contact with vulnerable people or consider other protective measures when sick with the flu.

He also cautioned families like those in Wangaratta against transferring patients to another facility during an outbreak as it risked spreading the flu. Victoria’s acting chief health officer Dr Brett Sutton said staff and residents at St John’s had been vaccinated against the flu.

“It’s incumbent on those who are visiting and the staff in those facilities to try and be immunised and to exclude themselves from work if they’re unwell,” he said.

The deaths of six residents at a Tasmanian nursing home were also confirmed on Saturday as part of the deadly flu season.

The Australian Medical Association’s Victorian president Dr Lorraine Baker said it was not too late in the season to get the vaccine against what she said was “a very virulent strain of Influenza A".

"This particular strain seems to be affecting, in the fatal sense, an older population," she said. “I ask people to be responsible citizens and if they feel unwell on any given day, especially with a fever, sore throat and a runny nose, to stay home.”