Delays at Royal Children’s and Monash hospitals as Victoria’s recent Covid death tally revealed

Another 10 Covid-related deaths have been recorded in Victoria, after people were warned of long delays at the Royal Children’s and Monash hospitals on Saturday.

Chief health officer Brett Sutton has revealed he has contracted Covid. Picture: David Crosling

There have been more Covid-related deaths in Victoria over the last 24 hours, with another 10 reported on Sunday morning.

Twenty-two deaths were reported on Saturday, with the total number of deaths in Victoria since the pandemic began now at 3,133.

And 528 people are currently in hospital with Covid, with 21 extremely sick in intensive care and four on a ventilator.

It comes amid revelations nearly 470 Victorians died with the illness between February 26 and May 13 - when the state’s last major restrictions were removed.

There are now 77,535 active Covid cases in Victoria.

Meanwhile, health authorities also revealed on Saturday they had found 15 wastewater detections of the BA.4 or BA.5 Omicron strain in Victoria.

Five other detections of the mutant BA.2.12.1 strain have also been recorded.

Evidence suggests these Omicron sub-lineages are more transmissible than the prominent Omicron BA.2 but do not cause more severe disease.

Long delays at Monash and Royal Children’s hospitals on Saturday

Amid Victoria’s worsening health crisis, Monash Health tweeted on Saturday evening it was “experiencing high demand at our Emergency Department”.

The Twitter post outlined how the department was dealing with “high demand and long wait times for both adults and children”, with one person retweeting the announcement with the hashtag ‘#NotOk’.

Monash Health followed up the initial post with clarifications that “the most seriously sick or injured will always be cared for first”, but encouraged people to consider other forms of medical attention – such as GPs, chemists or Nurse on Call services.

The hospital confirmed the department was still open, but pleaded for the sick or injured to use discretion when assessing the severity of their condition.

The Department of Health and Ambulance Victoria are helping Monash Health to divert “less urgent care where possible”.

A woman said on the hospital’s Facebook page “it’s happening all over Australia”.

“Some big decisions have to be made, not Band-Aid fixes,” she wrote.

Another commenter called on Martin Foley to fix the state’s healthcare crisis.

Parents are also being warned to expect long delays at the Royal Children’s Hospital, as its emergency department is swamped.

In a statement on Saturday morning, the hospital said it was experiencing “extremely high demand” resulting in extended wait periods.

The long waits are expected to continue into the weekend, prompting Ambulance Victoria to defer cases away from the hospital

Royal Children's Hospital Emergency ward. Picture: David Caird.

It is the latest in a buckling health service, which saw Ambulance Victoria forced to declare another emergency code orange earlier this week.

The busy night for Victoria’s struggling ambulance workers was due to staff shortages leaving workers struggling with exhaustion and fatigue.

Daniel Andrews this week lashed out at the opposition, that criticised the health system under his watch.

The Premier said significant funding announced in the budget last week would help the state’s overrun healthcare system.

“We’ve got elective surgery back on, we’re doing our best to support our dedicated nurses and doctors and ambos,” he said.

“Winter is here and winter is always a challenging time, Covid or no Covid.”

Shock number of Covid deaths since laws lifted

Nearly 470 Victorians have died of Covid since late February, when some of the state’s last remaining restrictions were lifted.

The Department of Health on Friday afternoon confirmed 469 people had died between February 26 and May 13 this year.

It was notified of 18 Covid deaths on Friday, with 13 of those occurring over the past week.

It comes as Victoria’s chief health officer Brett Sutton revealed he had also contracted Covid.

Professor Sutton on Friday said he was experiencing symptoms, and used his diagnosis to spruik the importance of the third jab.

“I’m down with Covid,” he wrote on Twitter.

“Feeling pretty rubbish, tbh.

“Razor blade throat and painful cough. Clearly not the same for everyone.

“Can’t imagine how it might have been – for me – without three doses of vax.

“Good on science.”

Professor Sutton was a familiar face during Victoria’s several Covid waves, but his media appearances have reduced in recent months.

Premier Dan Andrews dramatically relaxed Victoria’s Covid restrictions from February 26, allowing for masks to be off in all but high risk settings, more people to return to their offices and for large gatherings to take place.

And restrictions have been further relaxed since that time, with life in Victoria returning to what many would describe as normal.

Originally published as Delays at Royal Children’s and Monash hospitals as Victoria’s recent Covid death tally revealed