‘Not good enough’: The shortage fuelling fears as health worker COVID-19 cases climb

The Royal Australasian College of Physicians is concerned a lack of proper personal protective equipment is fuelling a rise in COVID-19 cases among doctors and nurses.

The medical body surveyed front-line workers and found one-in-five did had limited or no access to surgical face masks.

It comes as active case numbers among healthcare workers have doubled to 994 in the past fortnight.

“We’ve got a doubling of the number of health care workers infected every two weeks. It’s not good enough,” President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, Professor John Wilson, told Ross and Russel.

“If the protection is adequate and appropriate, that shouldn’t be happening.”

Professor Wilson said he doesn’t believe a nationwide shortage is to blame.

“N95 masks, they are available from retail outlets,” he said.

“There’s a long chain of administration but, unfortunately, when we went straight to the end of the the chain and asked those people on the front-line what they were getting, it was an inadequate answer.”

Press PLAY below for more