Ambulance Victoria forced to call another ‘code red’ as new Covid wave badly stretches emergency services
The resurgence of coronavirus cases across a major Australian city has forced ambulance authorities to once again trigger crisis protocols.
Victoria’s beleaguered ambulance service has once again enacted crisis protocols as a winter Covid-19 wave and staff shortages stretch resources to breaking point.
Ambulance Victoria early on Sunday morning sounded its second “code red” in a fortnight due to extreme demand across Melbourne.
The crisis protocol was in place for 90 minutes from about 2am after a surge in calls around midnight.
Staff and managers were recalled to duty and there was a rapid offloading of patients to meet demand, while lower acuity patients were being referred to other services.
Ambulance Victoria thanked the community for limiting triple-zero calls for emergencies during the rush.
Demand for ambulance services in metropolitan Melbourne has now eased.
— Ambulance Victoria (@AmbulanceVic) July 9, 2022
We again thank the community for helping us save Triple Zero (000) for emergencies. pic.twitter.com/U6ZAO7Yi8H
It was the seventh time in as many months that the service has been forced to sound a code red and comes after staff shortages forced similar action nearly two weeks ago.
That code red lasted for four hours.
Ambulance Victoria executive director of operational communications Lindsay Mackay on Sunday admitted the situation was expected to remain a challenging one.
She said while not in a “precarious situation”, the service had been forced to deal with at least 170 staff absences ever day over the past week.
Covid cases and deaths have been on the rise in Australia’s cities amid a new wave driven by the highly infectious and more vaccine-resistant BA. 4 and BA. 5 Omicron sub variants.
Hospitalisations in Victoria are at their highest since early February and the state is currently reporting about 8000 new cases a day.
There have been 4075 Covid deaths in Victoria since the start of the pandemic, ahead of 3707 in NSW and 1323 in Queensland.
A reported 176 nursing homes in Victoria are facing Covid outbreaks.
Teen’s dog ‘looking for her’ after tragic death
The 13-year-old girl was killed in a buggy rollover in regional Victoria, which also left a 47-year-old man dead.
‘Wasted our time’: Grand Prix ticket fury
Tickets for next year’s Formula 1 Grand Prix in Melbourne were meant to go on sale at 12pm, but frustrated punters were left hanging.
Jury sees video of scene after fatal attack
The jury in the trial of a woman accused of murdering her father-in-law has been shown a “confronting” video of the crime scene, after visiting the home themselves.