Health Minister Martin Foley has warned it would be premature to think Victoria was through the effects of its Omicron wave, as the state recorded 29 more COVID-19 deaths.
The number of people in hospital with the virus sits at 1,057, up from 998 yesterday.
Of those in hospital, 119 are in intensive care units, and 45 are on ventilators.
There were 14,836 new cases officially reported in the state, a jump from the 11,695 a day earlier.
The total was reached through 8,539 rapid antigen tests (RATs) and 6,297 PCR test results. A total of 30,726 PCR tests were processed, about 10,000 more than the day before.
It brings the number of officially reported active infections to 183,154.
A recent drop in PCR testing numbers, asymptomatic infection and the lack of data on how many rapid tests are being administered means the true number of cases in the community could be much higher.
About 0.71 per cent of the 550,000 people who contracted COVID-19 since 2022 began have needed hospitalisation.
The sheer number of new infections means that relatively small proportion of cases has put immense pressure on the hospital system.
It prompted a Code Brown declaration across most major hospitals earlier this month, allowing staff to be redirected and surgeries to be cancelled. At the time, authorities foreshadowed that hospitalisations would rise at about 100 cases per day.
Mr Foley dismissed suggestions things were not as bad as the government had forecast.
"Our health system continues to operate under extraordinarily trying circumstances.
"Our healthcare professionals, our entire healthcare staff are working under pressure like never before."
The health minister's comments echo those of the World Health Organization head, who overnight said it was "dangerous" to assume the pandemic was nearing its end.
Deputy State Controller for Health Adam Horsburgh said there had been a drop in calls to triple-0 and a reduction in presentations to emergency departments since the Code Brown declaration.
Mr Horsburgh said there were more staff becoming available, but there were still more than 3,000 healthcare workers furloughed due to illness or close contact status.
The government on Tuesday launched the Get the Right Help for Your Recovery Campaign, designed to provide tools to manage COVID-19 at home and avoid placing undue pressure on hospital and paramedic services.
"While things have stabilised, they've stabilised at quite a high level and we would expect to see continued pressure on our health system for some time to come," Mr Foley said.
"Once school goes back we would expect to see a bit of an uptick in cases."
Number waiting more than a year for elective surgery triples nationwide
The number of people waiting more than a year for surgeries deemed to be elective has nearly tripled in a year, a new report has found.
The data compiled by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows 7.6 per cent of patients waited longer than a year to be admitted for surgery in 2020-21 — nearly triple the 2.8 per cent the year before.
Even for those who were seen sooner, the median wait time for elective surgery was 48 days, up on the 39-day median wait time in 2019-20.
The Institute's spokesman, Adrian Webster, told ABC Radio Melbourne the report showed that in the 2020-21 year, states like New South Wales were able to clear a large portion of the backlog caused by 2020's first lockdown.
But Victoria was less successful during the several lockdowns over the 2020-21 year.
Elective procedures are classed from category 1 — urgent and needing to be performed within 30 days — to category 3 — needing to happen within 12 months.
Tonsil removals, cataract surgeries, IVF and varicose vein procedures generally fall into the latter category. While they may cause pain, they are deemed by doctors to be unlikely to deteriorate quickly.
The "elective" categorisation "is in no way meant to imply that it's an optional surgery", Professor Webster said.
The data shows the number of elective surgery admissions was up by 9.6 per cent across the country, after a significant dip in admissions in 2019-20.
The Institute attributes that uptick to the greater level of restrictions in place for elective surgery nationwide in 2019-20.
Indigenous Australians waited longer than other Australians for elective surgery in the 2020-21 year, with a median wait time of 57 days. Nine per cent of Indigenous Australians waited more than a year to be admitted for their procedure.
With further lockdowns and the state's current Code Brown in place across hospitals, there are further fears the large backlog could exacerbate health conditions.
There were more than 67,000 Victorians on the waitlist as of September 30, 2021.
Victorians have told the ABC that even scans deemed as needing urgent attention have been postponed amid the current Omicron wave.
Vaccination numbers lift after weekend push
About 32 per cent of Victorians aged 18 and above have had a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, which is seen as essential in curbing the spread of the Omicron wave.
About 2.2 million adult Victorians are currently eligible for a third vaccine after the interval between doses was shortened last week.
"There's still a lot of people out there who need to come forward and get that third dose," Mr Foley said.
Mr Foley said more than 104,000 Victorians got vaccinated at state centres during a four-day "blitz" held over the weekend, compared with 75,000 a week earlier.
About 32 per cent of children aged between five and 11 have had their first dose of a paediatric vaccine, which became available on January 10.
It means two-thirds of that cohort are still unvaccinated, less than a week before students return to school for face-to-face learning.
The thousands of new infections were reported a year after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Victoria.
Since then, there have been more than 1,800 deaths recorded in the state.
More than 740,000 cases have been detected through PCR tests and thousands more through RATs — a majority of those cases just in the recent Omicron wave.
Groundbreaking vaccine developments in the years since a pandemic was declared have somewhat softened the blow of the dramatic new spike, with 93 per cent of Victorians aged 12 and above having at least two doses.
