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Highlights
- Australia’s Covid heat is blazing hot as the death count keeps rising higher.
- The surge in Covid infected persons is calling for more healthcare assistance.
- Staff shortages and PPE worries have forced Victoria to declare ‘Code Brown’.
Australia observed the deadliest and most distressing day since the beginning of pandemic, recording 77 Covid deaths by Tuesday afternoon.
With the surging Covid infections, Australian public hospital infrastructure is getting crunched with hospitals facing beds and staff shortages. The central and state governments are constantly brainstorming for new solutions every day to manage Omicron/Covid stress.
As a result, Federal health minister Greg Hunt has activated an agreement with private hospitals to step in and boost the heath care capacity.
Due to this, about 57,000 nurses and over 100,000 hospital staff across the country will now be available for state governments and public hospitals.
Victoria state government announced “Code Brown” emergency alert
- Troubled by the unmanageable rise in covid patients, the Victorian state has already declared a code brown today and will come into effect starting tomorrow.
- Although the state has enough infrastructure, staff shortage and PPEs (personal protective equipment) are posing a problem.
What does Code Brown mean?
- The Australian health services use a nationally recognised colour code for managing emergencies in the country.
- Code Brown is an emergency management plan or response code for external emergencies like floods and fires causing mass casualty.
- In Victoria, it is often activated for planning on response to situations like chemical spills, fire or flood.
- However, this time the Code Brown has been declared for the entire health care system, across the state.
- Victoria seems to be preparing itself for the worst amid the Omicron COVID-19 wave, with code Brown.
Bottom line-
The worrying rates of Covid related hospitalisations seems to be putting the Australian healthcare system under immense pressure. However, being prepared for the worst is what governments are thinking about for now.
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