Covid-19 Victoria: Tent set up outside Melbourne hospital as cases skyrocket in the state
A grim photo taken outside a Melbourne hospital shows the extent of the city’s Covid crisis as Victorian cases reach a record high.
A grim photo taken outside a major Melbourne hospital shows the extent of the city’s Covid crisis as cases reached a record high in Victoria on Friday.
Tents were set up outside of the emergency department at the Angliss Hospital in Upper Ferntree Gully as the state reported 1838 new cases and five deaths – the highest daily Covid tally in Australia since the beginning of the pandemic.
It’s the second time the state has broken the record this week after reaching 1763 cases on Tuesday.
For the first time since last year, triage tents have been set up outside hospitals as part of extreme measures to ease the strain on Melbourne’s health system.
Australian Defence Force personnel will also be deployed to drive ambulances amid fears hospitals may be overwhelmed by Covid patients.
It follows revelations triple-0 calls in the past two weeks have overwhelmed operators, leaving some people waiting up to five minutes for their calls to be answered.
While tents have already been set up outside the Angliss Hospital, it’s expected more will be erected outside other hospitals in the coming days.
Victoria has recorded a spike in hospital cases as well as a surge in people in intensive care and on ventilators.
Hospitalisations have been on the rise in recent days, with 620 people listed in hospital on Friday and 564 the day before.
There has also been a rise in the number of people in intensive care and on ventilators this week.
The state now has 114 people in intensive care and 76 on a ventilator.
There’s now concern the hospital system may become overwhelmed as Victorians race to get vaccinated.
Acting chief health officer Ben Cowie said hospitalisations generally occurred between seven to 10 days after a person tested positive.
He expects to see an increase in Covid hospital admissions.
“When we see days of 1700 cases, we are not just worried about that because of the case number, we are worried that 80 or 90 of those people are going to end up in hospital down the track,” he said.
“The pressure on the whole system is increasing and it will continue to increase and the thing we can do about that is get vaccinated.”
But in a promising sign on Friday, chief health officer Brett Sutton said the outbreak was close to peaking.
“Our numbers in ICU, numbers hospitalised, is not rising at the same rate (as cases) and that is a very good sign in terms of what vaccines are doing now,” he said.
rhiannon.tuffield@news.com.au
Desperate search for woman missing 17 days
Police and family are desperately searching for a 19-year-old Melbourne woman who has not been seen for more than two weeks.
‘Beautiful soul’ killed in tree fall disaster
The family of a young man killed when a tree fell on him during a camping trip have remembered him as a ‘beautiful soul’.
State’s dramatic plan for housing crisis
One Aussie state has unveiled a drastic plan to help young people currently locked out of the housing market – but it’s earned the ire of some and led to fierce protests.