SWINE flu has taken a toll on the Tasmanian Ambulance Service in the North-West with one in seven members in home isolation.
But the 15 per cent staffing loss was not affecting response capability or response times, North-West ambulance superintendent Paul Templar said.
Two ambulance officers have tested positive for swine flu, two others were awaiting results and a further six were in home isolation, out of 70 operational staff.
"It's significant but manageable," Mr Templar said.
"We've replaced all those who are currently unavailable using overtime. If we have the need to isolate greater numbers we would look at calling people back from annual leave and we have offers of assistance from the other two regions.
"At this point in time there is no change whatsoever in our response capabilities or our response times and I'm very hopeful that we will not see any change in our ability to respond."
Yesterday, the national tally headed towards 1000, with 752 cases in Victoria alone.
Tasmania has five confirmed cases, and there are 19,273 swine flu cases globally.
One of the two officers with swine flu had recently travelled to Victoria to visit family and friends and most likely contracted the disease then.
Mr Templar said when the man presented for work on Monday and showed symptoms, he was immediately sent home and Public Health experts were contacted.
Mr Templar said any patients who had been in contact with either of the ambulance officers in question had been contacted and treated accordingly.
"I'm not aware of anyone who has contracted an illness from an ambulance officer at this point in time," he said.
"We've managed to confine it to staff, that's what it appears to be at this point in time."
Health Minister Lara Giddings reassured North-West residents that the service was operating at capacity.
"The service is being maintained, however, it is an example of the pressure that can be put on the health system if this swine flu is not contained so again we ask people to ensure they take our messages seriously," Ms Giddings said.
Health and Community Services Union State secretary Chris Brown said the main issue moving forward was making sure there were strong contingency plans in place if the situation got worse.
"Calling people back in from annual leave and people working overtime is okay as a stop-gap measure but none of us know how bad this is going to get or how long it's going to go on for," Mr Brown said.
"I don't think there's any question of public safety being threatened in any way by what's gone down today, but as people know, things can move very fast."
He said the union would be having discussions with the Health Department regarding future plans. The union was also working with the Government on the industrial relations questions that swine flu and home isolation posed.
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