Victoria has hit a grim Covid milestone one the same day the state recorded almost 38,000 new infections and 13 deaths.
Victoria has hit its highest hospitalisation level since the pandemic began as the state’s ambulance service comes under severe pressure.
There are now 861 infected people in Victorian hospitals, with 117 in intensive care and 27 on ventilators.
Victoria’s previous peak for Covid hospitalisations was 851 in October when the state was battling a surge in Delta infections.
However, the figure is dwarfed by the 2186 people in New South Wales who are in hospital with Covid.
This includes more than 170 patients in intensive care, up from 2030 and 159 respectively on Monday.
Victoria recorded 37,994 new cases and 13 Covid deaths in the past 24 hours.
More than 93 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated and the state has 171,369 active cases.
A total of 59,670 PCR tests were taken on Monday and 16,433 vaccines were administered at state hubs.
It comes as ambulances in Melbourne were forced to declare a code red for the second time in a week as services stretched desperately thin across the city.
The warning came after midnight on Tuesday with anyone needing non-emergency care urged to contact Nurse on Call services instead.
“Ambulance Victoria is experiencing an extremely high demand for ambulances in the metropolitan region,” a statement said.
“It is likely there will be a delay in an ambulance reaching you.
“Our priority is to provide care to Victorians who require lifesaving assistance.”
A week earlier, the embattled service implemented another code red as Victoria’s daily cases skyrocketed past 10,000.
More than 500 Ambulance Victoria staff were furloughed at the time with SES and Lifesaving Victoria used to help keep up with demand.
Originally published as Victoria hits highest hospitalisation numbers yet as state records 37,994 new cases, 13 Covid deaths
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