Coronavirus: Grim warning for intensive care wards

Victoria’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton has warned that he expected ‘a couple of hundred’ people to be hospitalised with COVID-19 in the coming days.

Victoria's Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton in Melbourne on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

A man in his 30s and four people in their 40s were among 26 people in intensive care in Victoria with COVID-19 on Tuesday, as the state’s Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton warned that he expected “a couple of hundred” people to be hospitalised with the virus in the coming days.

The frightening intensive care ward statistics followed the deaths of a man and a woman, both in their 80s, bringing the state’s coronavirus death toll to 26, with four deaths in as many days.

There were eight people in their 60s in Victorian ICU with COVID-19 on Tuesday, representing the most common age bracket, as well as five in their 50s and six in their 70s.

A total of 85 Victorians were in hospital with COVID-19, up from just 15 a fortnight ago. Of the 26 ­patients who were in ICU, up from just two a fortnight ago, 21 were on ventilators.

Victoria recorded 270 new cases of COVID-19 in the 24 hours to Tuesday, and its worst rate of positive tests ever. The 270 cases came from 21,995 tests processed on Monday, meaning the positive test rate is 1.23 per cent.

This compares with a previous high of 0.9 per cent on Sunday, and 0.77 per cent on Friday, when the state recorded its worst daily increase of 288, from a record 37,588 tests processed.

Tuesday also marked the milestone of Victoria reaching an average number of new cases for the current seven-day period of 201.9. The first wave of coronavirus infections peaked with a daily average of 73.7 in the week to April 2.

The most recent low was 3.1 cases in the week to June 12, just over a month ago.

Victoria now has 1803 active cases, representing an increase of 1422 in the past fortnight.

Professor Sutton welcomed the fact that the 270 new cases on Tuesday was lower than the peak of 288 cases on Friday, but said there was no room for complacency. “I warned that we can’t be complacent about numbers on a day-to-day basis,” he said.

“It’s not as high as our biggest single day, but we haven’t turned the corner yet.

“I hope to see that this week, but there are no guarantees.”

 

Professor Sutton said the state’s 1803 active cases represented “a really significant number of people with coronavirus”.

“It does mean that in the next fortnight, we are going to see a number of these people who will require hospital,” he said.

“There’s often 10 to 20 per cent of all coronavirus infections who require hospitalisation, so that’s a couple of hundred individuals at least that will require hospitalisation in the next couple of weeks.

“GPs have a really critical role in looking after these current individuals with coronavirus.

“I would just say to them please be in touch and make an assessment of the clinical needs of those individuals.

“If people are deteriorating, now is the time to make an early referral or linkage with acute care or our tertiary care system, because they’ll want to see these ­patients early, they’ll want to be on top of clinical management early with dexamethasone or Remdesivir or whatever therapy that might be available to them.

“It’s important to see these patients early if they’re deteriorating so they can avoid the worst outcomes — intensive care or death.”