Good morning. The Australian Open is in full swing with the focus finally on the court following Novak Djokovic’s deportation. The Omicron outbreak continues to add pressure to struggling sectors as Australians fight to access tests and booster shots.
Paramedics across Sydney who are already “drunk on fatigue” are being asked to drive ambulances home and to be on call as demand soars due to the Omicron outbreak. Chris Kastelan, the New South Wales president of the Australian Paramedics Association, suggested it was unprecedented for paramedics to be on call in Sydney and warned that the conditions were becoming unsafe. “I would suggest that the fact that that’s happening shows that the rostering or the staffing levels for both metropolitan Sydney and regional NSW is just not enough for the workload at this point in time,” he said. Last week, NSW Ambulance averaged 4,500 triple zero callouts per day. Prior to the Omicron outbreak, there had never been more than 4,000 calls on a single day. Tuesday was Australia’s deadliest day of the pandemic so far, with 77 deaths across the country.
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