Victoria has reversed its ban on non-urgent elective surgeries with some private and day procedure centres to resume at half capacity from next week.
From February 7 Victorian authorities will allow private hospitals and day procedure centres to recommence surgery to up to 50 per cent of their normal practice levels.
It comes after the government banned all non trauma or category one surgeries amid the spread of Omicron.
If numbers continue to fall, authorities will look at continuing further elective surgeries in the state systems in the weeks ahead, with a goal to initially operate at 75 per cent capacity in regional areas and 50 per cent in the metropolitan public health system.
Health Minister Martin Foley said the decision was made as cases continued to fall in the state.
“This is very much a first step but a return to normal elective surgery continues to be our goal, to be achieved as soon as possible,” he said.
“While we regret delaying non-category one surgeries, we are now in a position to cautiously and carefully turn that system back on next week.”
Victoria recorded 11,240 new cases and 36 Covid deaths on Friday, and also saw a drop in hospitalisation numxjmtzywbers.
There are now 707 infected people in Victorian hospitals, with 79 in intensive care and 29 on ventilators.
Victoria’s pre-Omicron peak for Covid hospitalisations was 851 in October when the state was battling a surge in Delta infections.
More than 93 per cent of eligible Victorians are fully vaccinated and the state has 65,968 active cases.
A total of 24,737 PCR tests were taken on Wednesday and 15,382 vaccines were administered at state hubs.
Health Minister Martin Foley on Friday recognised the immense, continuing pressure on the state’s health system, announcing a huge $1.34 billion package to support the state’s health system to manage the continuing impact of Covid and stabilising Omicron.
The money will go towards supporting public hospitals and emergency departments, boosting equipment including PPE gear, onsite surge workforces and the Covid positive pathways program.
There will also be funding for Ambulance Victoria to bring forward the recruitment of thousands more paramedics.
Mr Foley said the package would help ease some of the pressure on the system.
“There is pressure right across our system, but not only that, there is continual 24.7 pressure on our people who are our system,” he said.
“Those frontline healthcare paramedics, nurses, clinicians, pathology teams, our cleaners, cooks, executives.
“This investment is about how we can continue to support them.”
It comes as Premier Daniel Andrews dropped a hint on how long people will have to live with one hated Covid rule.
“This is a wildly infectious variant and we are being guided by safely, which has never been more important than it is right now,” Mr Andrews said.
“It is very, very challenging.”
Mr Andrews said it was still an uphill battle for health workers, who were seeing little reprieve despite a drop in cases.
“There is incredibly pressure on our health system right now despite the fact the numbers are coming down,” he said.
“Despite the fact we seem to have reached the peak, there is still very significant pressure there.”
