Source: ABCnews
Victoria has recorded 17,636 new COVID-19 cases and 11 deaths, as pressure mounts on the state’s hospital, ambulance and testing systems.
The figures mark another record-breaking jump in infections, surpassing Tuesday’s tally of 14,020.
The new cases were detected from 59,682 test results, taking the test positivity rate to nearly 30 per cent.
But the true figure is likely much higher, as the PCR testing network is overwhelmed by the rapid rise in cases.
There are now 51,317 active cases of the virus, and 731 people have died in the current outbreak.
The number of hospital patients with active COVID-19 infections has risen sharply in the past day from 516 to 591, including 53 patients in ICU, with 20 patients on a ventilator.
A further 53 patients are still in ICU, whose infections are no longer considered active.
Around 11 per cent of Victorians aged over 12 have received three doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Code Red declared by ambulance service
Ambulance Victoria declared a Code Red overnight, as paramedics were overwhelmed by a massive spike in calls for assistance.
For around two hours from just after midnight, Ambulance Victoria warned of delays in reaching patients due to extremely high demand.
It urged people to call NURSE ON CALL on 1300 60 60 24 or visit their GP if their illness was not an emergency.
The secretary of the Ambulance Union, Danny Hill, said COVID-19-related call-outs and hospitalisations had contributed to paramedics being stretched.
“It’s not just the pandemic, but there’s no question that the increase in hospitalisations at the moment that we’re seeing with the pandemic is a massive effect and effectively all those issues become a perfect storm where ambulance crews are just completely overwhelmed,” he said.
Earlier this week, the Health Minister and a health service that manages three hospitals in Melbourne’s west issued pleas for people not to attend emergency departments for coronavirus testing.
The pressure on hospitals comes after 54 private testing sites closed temporarily on Tuesday to work through a backlog of tests.
