Erin Pearson, journalist with The Age, has detailed a horrific stay in a COVID-19 ward at a Melbourne hospital.

It comes as Victoria issued a ‘Code Brown’ emergency measure for the first time, meaning public hospitals can cancel the leave of healthcare workers.

100,000 private healthcare staff have also been deployed into the public system, helping to ease the pressure.

Ms Pearson said it was only once she was discharged that she realised how badly the system was coping with the increased hospitalisations.

“I think the first few days in there I was so unwell that the reality of the situation didn’t really hit me,” she said on 2GB Drive.

“It was more when I got home, and I started to talk to friends and family about what I experienced, when I really felt that I need to tell the wider public about what’s going on.”

Press PLAY to hear the full interview below

Image: The Age