The state government has called a statewide code brown for all public metropolitan hospitals and six large regional hospitals — Barwon Health, Grampians Health, Bendigo Health, Goulburn Valley Health, Albury Wodonga Health and La Trobe Regional Hospital — amid record-high COVID-19 hospitalisations and extensive staff furloughing due to the virus.

It’s the first system-wide Code Brown ever declared.

The measure is usually reserved for short term emergencies, like fires or thunderstorm asthma events.

It means access to less urgent health services may cease or be reduced on a hospital by hospital basis.

Hospitals can ask staff to cancel leave to fill staff shortages, and workers may be redeployed to work in areas of highest clinical priority.

The code brown begins at midday on Wednesday and is expected to last for four to six weeks.

Announcing the measure, Deputy Premier James Merlino said Victoria’s hospital system “is under extreme pressure”.

“We’ve got more than 4000 health care workers unavailable right now,” he said.

Mr Merlino says the state will see hospitalisations and the number of people in intensive care with COVID-19 peak over the next two to four weeks.

“Hospitalisations lag a few weeks behind the peak of the numbers and then ICU follows on from that,” he said.

“Now is the right time to act.”

Press PLAY below to hear an emergency physician explain what a code brown is

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated the Code Brown would begin at midday on Tuesday.