Over the weekend, Ambulance Victoria enacted its seventh code red escalation in as many months.

The service was overwhelmed by demand on Sunday, leading it to call the code red around 2am, lasting for about 90 minutes.

Ambulance Victoria says there were no extraordinary factors that led to the code red.

“There really wasn't anything that we could see that was different, other than we had a sudden surge in calls that came in just around midnight,” according to Ambulance Victoria's executive director of operational communications, Lindsay Mackay. 

“They just kept coming in for a couple of hours and that's really what led us towards activating the escalation plan.”

Ms Mackay says many paramedics have been absent from work due to COVID-19. 

“We've had about 170 paramedics that have been furloughed every day this week due to COVID and we're just not immune to it, like anybody else,” Ms Mackay said. 

“We are experiencing that as an ongoing challenge and with the flu season it will continue to be a challenge.”

Victorian Ambulance Union secretary Danny Hill says the strains are decimating morale.

“I had a paramedic describe the situation at the moment as soul-destroying and I think that probably captures the feeling of a lot of paramedics,” Mr Hill said.

“They're being asked to absorb a lot of the work from other parts of the health system that are also not coping.”

Mr Hill says low morale and poor working conditions have seen many Victorian paramedics to be poached by ambulance services interstate or simply leaving the profession.

“There's no question that we're looking at a lot of paramedics looking at leaving the job,” he said.