Melbourne hospitals have begun to draw on an army of reserve doctors and nurses as Victoria's second wave of coronavirus forces hundreds of healthcare professionals into isolation.
COVID-19 infections among Victorian healthcare workers rose by 60 since Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections to 529, 239 of which are active.
Medical staff in the COVID-19 ward at Melbourne's Austin Hospital.Credit:Justin McManus
Pandemic plans to increase ICU bed capacity at some of the city's major hospitals have also been re-enacted this week, as Victoria recorded its most deadly day in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Five more people - a man in his 50s, a man in his 70s and three aged care residents - had died from coronavirus, the government revealed on Thursday. The state recorded 403 new cases. It now has 3630 active cases.
As authorities struggle to contain the spread of coronavirus, new visiting restrictions have been enforced in hospitals, including maternity wards and aged-care centres.
The government also announced a new $300 payment for workers without sick leave entitlements to ensure they stay at home while waiting for coronavirus test results.
A cluster of COVID-19 cases linked to Clever Kids Childcare in Ashburton has grown to 21, while 447 cases have now been linked to 35 aged care sites.
There are now 201 patients including four children in Victorian hospitals and 40 people in intensive care.
The number of active cases in hospitals has forced hundreds of employees into isolation after potential exposure to the deadly virus.
More than 200 workers at the Royal Melbourne Hospital remain in isolation after at least 24 staff were infected in clusters that spread through the emergency department and the hospital's Royal Park campus.
Hundreds of healthcare workers have been deployed across hospitals including the Royal Melbourne and The Alfred, while others are assisting with community testing sites and contact tracing.
More than 14,000 healthcare workers have been recruited to move between hospitals grappling with staffing shortages.
The Royal Melbourne, which has nine critically ill coronavirus patients in intensive care, has increased its ICU beds to 42.
The move to dip into the surge workforce comes as doctors and nurses express concerns that increasing numbers of critical health workers needed to monitor patients in ICU beds were being forced into isolation.
Coronavirus fatalities were also beginning to take a toll on hospital staff, Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Victoria secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said.
"Seeing patients come in and pass away, it really takes its toll on nurses," she said.
"The number of patients that are coming into hospital from those aged care facilities is very distressing and it is very demanding and many nurses are thinking when is the flow of patients going to end?"
Australian Medical Association Victorian president Julian Rait estimated that there would need to be at least 1750 new cases of coronavirus each day to to exceed the state's ICU and staffing capacity.
"This would have to go on for about seven to 10 days to really overwhelm system," Professor Rait said.
"At the moment, we really have a lot of excess capacity to deal with the flood of patients. The real concern though is that cases seem to be still edging up."
Dr Stephen Warrillow, director of the ICU Ward at the Austin Hospital in Heidelberg on Thursday.Credit:Arsineh Houspian
The Austin Hospital, in the city's north-east, has already opened up a new ward with eight more ICU beds this week.
Intensive care unit director Stephen Warrillow said Victoria was well prepared for the coming surge of gravely ill patients.
At the moment, a little more than five per cent of Victoria's intensive care beds are being used for COVID-19 patients.
"Our biggest challenge going forward is protecting our staff from this virus to ensure they are still able to come to work," Dr Warrillow said.
Melbourne's St Vincent's Hospital has also opened up a new COVID-19 ward in its intensive care unit this week to care for infected patients.
The Alfred hospital said it had only a small number of coronavirus patients in intensive care.
Western Health, which oversees the running of Sunshine and Footscray Hospitals, has also not yet reached full ICU capacity, but surge plans were ready to be activated at any moment, a spokeswoman said.
An analysis based on official government models, completed by the Grattan Institute at the request of The Age, suggests Victoria would need to record between 960 and 1885 new infections daily for 10 days to fill the state's existing intensive care beds.
With Benjamin Preiss and Paul Sakkal
Melissa Cunningham is The Age's health reporter.
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2020-07-23 09:45:00Z
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