Australian doctors warn of risks to hospitals once COVID-19 curbs ease

Australian doctors on Sept. 2 warned the country's hospitals are not ready to cope with the government's reopening plans, even with higher vaccination rates, as some states prepare to move from a virus suppression strategy to living with COVID-19.   

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The Australian Medical Association (AMA) said the health system was in danger of being locked into a "permanent cycle of crisis" and has called for new modelling to check if staffing levels in hospitals can withstand an expected surge in cases when lockdown rules ease.   

"If you have opened up and you haven't looked at the safety nets or the life rafts that we've got, we might end up actually trying to push more people on the life rafts and capsizing them," AMA Vice President Chris Moy told broadcaster ABC.   

Australia in July unveiled a four-stage plan back to greater freedoms when the country reaches 70%-80% vaccination.

But virus-free Queensland and Western Australia have said they may not stick to those plans as the agreement was finalized when cases in New South Wales were much lower.   

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New South Wales on Sept. 2 reported 1,288 new locally acquired cases, just below its pandemic high of 1,290 hit on Monday. Seven new deaths were recorded.    

A total of 957 people are in hospitals, up from 698 a week ago, while cases in intensive care units (ICU) jumped nearly 40% to 160, 64 of whom require ventilation.      

Authorities quadrupled the number of the state's intensive care ventilators to 2,000 early last year, but the medical association's Moy said governments need to focus on hospital staffing before relaxing lockdown rules.   

"It's not just the number of ventilators, it's not the number of IC units, it's the number of staff and...