an exhausted medical worker paints a harrowing picture of life and death inside victoria's covid icu where nurses are bleeding from their ears and sobbing into each other's shoulders

An exhausted health worker has detailed the harrowing conditions in Victoria's Covid ICU wards as they battle the state's Delta outbreak. 

Kylie Fisher witnessed the devastating impacts of the virus first hand on both patients and colleagues at Western Health's Sunshine Hospital in St Albans,  Melbourne, where she is the critical care outreach services manager.

Last year, there were more than 400 coronavirus-infected patients admitted to the hospital, with numbers again on the rise as the state grapples a new outbreak. 

Ms Fisher said healthcare workers were mentally and physically distressed as they worked arduous 12 hour shifts caring for severely ill patients during the state's deadly second Covid wave last year.

Critical Care Outreach Services Manager Kylie Fisher has detailed the harrowing pressures faced by health care workers in Victoria's Covid ICU wards

'They would often come to me overwhelmed,' Ms Fisher told reporters on Monday. 'I saw tears, I saw exhaustion, I saw nurses consoling nurses.

'I saw blood across the ridges of their noses and ears for wearing PPE for 12 hours at a time. Long shifts on their feet, kilometres and kilometres they clock up responding to emergency calls, and calls for assistance on the wards.

'They would go home after 12-hour shifts, long shifts, they would have showers before they would leave work, they would drive home, get changed in their garages and have another shower before they got in.'

Ms Fisher said nurses live in constant worry about how to look after patients while balancing the need to protect themselves and their families from the virus.

Many were disturbed by how many fit and healthy Victorians were struck down by the illness.  

'They would come to work worried about how they would support their colleagues on the wards, looking after overwhelming numbers of acutely unwell patients,' she said.  

'They would come to me and they would say: "Kylie, it's like nothing we have ever seen before. The patients are young and fit, and the next minute they're well, and the next minute, we're taking them to ICU". 

Ms Fisher said nurses were pushed to mental and physical limits during the state's deadly second wave last year. Pictured: Health care workers at a drive through vaccination centre in Melbourne

Ms Fisher said she was worried she would going to have to 'ask them to stand up and do it again' as infections continue to surge, with the state recording 73 new Covid cases on Monday.

Although her staff will willingly answer the call, she urged Victorians to get vaccinated to prevent frontline workers from facing such challenging conditions again.

'They've done it all before, and I have to probably ask them to do it all again. They will but they shouldn't have to,' she said.  

'We're lucky, we've got science, we've got a vaccine, so I'm asking, please, if you haven't already, get yourself vaccinated.' 

Chief health officer Brett Sutton said people were more than twice as likely to be hospitalised if they caught the Delta variant.

Ms Fisher said she feared intensive care units 'will become more overwhelmed' if enough people did not get vaccinated or the outbreak was not brought under control soon.

ICU nurse Michelle Spiteri and anaesthetist and intensive care physician Dr Forbes McGain attending to a Covid-19 patient at Footscray Hospital in Melbourne in July last year

While last year a high number of Covid patients were placed in wards outside intensive care, 'this year I'm seeing admissions straight to the ICUs', she said.

'Last year we managed a large portion of our acutely unwell patients within the ward setting, but I'm worried that, being more contagious, our ICU beds will quickly be utilised and we'll struggle to meet the demand.'

Of the state's new cases, 24 were in insolation and up to 49 may have been infectious in the community. 

The source of infection in 21 cases is under investigation, with 52 linked to known outbreaks. 

The state has 805 active virus cases, with 49 people in hospital, 15 in intensive care and 11 on ventilators. 

Ms Fisher said she was concerned Australians were not heeding health warnings after thousands attended anti-lockdown rallies across the country in the past few weeks. 

Ms Fisher said she was concerned by 'flow on' impacts on the hospital system from Australians believing the Covid pandemic was a conspiracy. Pictured: Violence erupts between police and protesters at an anti-lockdown rally in Melbourne on August 21

'When I see things on the news, where lots of people are congregating together without social distancing and without face masks, I worry about the impact and the flow on into the hospitals,' she said. 

'I can with my hand on the heart, stand here in front of all of you and say it's very, very real. It's happening. It's not a conspiracy. It's a very real thing.'

As Victoria endures its sixth gruelling lockdown, Health Minister Martin Foley said there was 'every indication' the public health rules were starting to kick in.

He said 'the situation has, we hope, plateaued', but warned there would not be a map like during Victoria's deadly second wave last year. 

'In regards to specific timetables and in regards to specific measures, the public health team are working on those,' he told reporters in Melbourne.

'But in terms of time frames... the strategy is the national cabinet agreed position, that when we get to 70 per cent, when we get to 80 per cent vaccination rates, our options multiply.

'If we do that, from the lowest possible infection levels, then our options grow.' 

Mr Foley said no first-dose Pfizer vaccine bookings were available at the state's vaccination hubs.

There are currently 805 active Covid cases in Victoria, with 49 people in hospital, including 15 in ICU. Pictured: A healthcare worker transports a person into an ambulance at the Arcare Aged Care facility in June 

Monday is the first day that GPs and pharmacies can administer Pfizer to people aged 16 to 39, and Mr Foley encouraged people to book through those avenues if they could not get a state clinic booking.

The virus is continuing to appear in regional areas, with one case announced on Sunday in the Gippsland town of Traralgon, in a person who had been to a funeral in Melbourne.

The outbreak in Shepparton also continues to grow, with nine cases reported on Monday linked to that cluster.

Anyone who attended Sky Salon Hairdressing in Shepparton between August 15 and 19 is urged to get tested.

In Melbourne, the city's west and north remain areas of concern and authorities have repeatedly had to remind people to get tested as soon as they recognise symptoms, as some people wait up to two weeks to get swabbed.

Victoria's exposure site list now stands at more than 900, including a children's ward at Dandenong Hospital across three days from August 25 to 27, which is a tier two site.