Western Australia has set a fresh COVID record with 12,390 new infections, after the state recorded its third-highest day of ambulance ramping yesterday.
More than a quarter of St John ambulances were left waiting outside hospitals yesterday, forcing the organisation to put out an emergency warning there would be delays in reaching people.
St John said it was receiving up to 50 calls an hour for help at one point, far above the 30 to 35 it can usually cope with.
"It was a pretty tough night for ramping yesterday," Chief Operating Officer Antony Smithson told ABC Perth Radio
Today's new COVID peak represents a 20 per cent jump from the 10,394 infections recorded yesterday.
Another six deaths have been recorded, while the number of people in hospital with the virus continues to rise, currently sitting at a new high of 286.
A record number of West Australians currently have the virus, with about 61,775 active cases.
Caller told she would wait 90 minutes for ambulance
The number of ambulances ramped at hospitals yesterday also prompted St John to activate its COVID escalation plan and put out a message on social media telling people it was extremely busy with high demand for ambulances in the metropolitan area and there would likely be delays.
St John aims to reach 90 per cent of calls within 15 minutes for emergencies, but the massive demand meant it knew that benchmark could not be reached.
"With the high number of calls we had coming into the state operations centre, we knew we'd expect delays in reaching those people," Mr Smithson said.
One caller to St John yesterday was Yvonne, who told ABC Radio Perth she was vomiting and had a fever but was informed she would have to wait 90 minutes for an ambulance and was asked if someone else could take her to hospital instead.
Her neighbour drove her and she found "seven or eight ambulances ramping", before being told it may be hours before she could be seen.
While St John said demand had now eased and the escalation plan was deactivated at 5.30am this morning, it was expected to remain busy for the rest of the week.
Early figures compiled by St John suggested 336 hours of ambulance ramping were recorded yesterday, among the top-three worst days ever.
With 25-30 per cent of ambulances ramped outside hospitals, St John contacted emergency departments and the health department asking them to clear space as soon as possible.
Hospitals can't take on more patients
Dr Peter Allely, the WA faculty chair of the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine, explained the problem was emergency departments were full of people already admitted and waiting for beds in the hospitals.
While Dr Alley estimated COVID-19 presentations were down 10-15 per cent from a couple of months ago, the impact was still significant because of the infection control measures required.
He told ABC Radio Perth the biggest impact on hospitals was the number of staff sick with COVID-19 or isolating as close contacts; routinely 20 per cent of staff on his recent shifts.
"It means hospitals aren't able to staff beds as they would," he said.
He was concerned there would be a repeat of yesterday's crisis.
Premier says COVID is to blame
Premier Mark McGowan said COVID-19 was the main reason ambulances and hospitals were under so much pressure.
"That's hard to avoid, that's hard to fix at this point in time," Mr McGowan said.
He said 10 per cent of ambulance staff were off work because they had the virus or were close contacts.
"What that means is, on any given day, a range of ambulances are not on the roads because staff can't work," Mr McGowan said.
But St John said it had more ambulances on than its minimum requirement yesterday, with more than 80 on the road.
The Premier said the virus was also hitting hospitals hard, with 2,500 staff off because they had COVID-19 or were close contacts.
"That's putting enormous stress on the system because the staffing is delaying people's admission to hospital and it means a whole lot of ambulance paramedics are not on the roads," he said.
"And on top of that we're having enormous numbers of calls, particularly respiratory cases called through to triple-0, so I'd request people who don't need to call an ambulance, if they can try to find other ways of accessing health services."
Health system neglected: Opposition
Opposition health spokesperson Libby Mettam said the situation was a result of five years of underinvestment in the health system.
When asked about the pressure on hospitals previously, the government has pointed to its investment in hundreds of new beds being opened across the system.
While some of those beds have already opened, others are not due to be available until later in the year.
"How extraordinary that the government's commitment to additional beds will not see those beds open until October this year, after the winter flu season," Ms Mettam said
McGowan to extend State of Emergency powers
Meanwhile, the WA government is extending its COVID emergency powers into 2023.
New legislation will allow the government to continue requiring close contacts to isolate, mandate the use of face masks and restrict cruise ships and movement in and out of remote communities.
The extended powers can be in place until January 3, 2023 but will only be in place while the COVID State of Emergency is still in effect.
"It does not mean the State of Emergency will remain in place until that time, as it may end earlier," the government said in a statement.
Premier Mark McGowan insisted the new laws were necessary to ensure the state could safely manage the pandemic.
"If we don't have those laws, we can't put those things in place," he said.
South Australia has introduced amendments to its Public Health Act, which would allow it to continue enforcing COVID-19 requirements and restrictions even when its emergency management declaration ends.
WA Liberal leader David Honey argued the same approach could be taken in WA, adding it was unnecessary to extend WA's emergency powers.
Dr Honey said the "greater majority" of controls the government wants to maintain could be dealt with under the Public Health Act, adding the state was "no longer in a crisis".
"When this pandemic started, clearly everyone was uncertain...[but] this pandemic has been going on for two years," he said.
