Rural GPs are close to burnout, after a gruelling nine months dealing with the impacts of COVID-19, the RDAA says.

Many doctors in rural and regional towns were unable to take a break due to border closures which also prevented locums from travelling in to relieve them, the association says.

RDAA president-elect Dr Megan Belot, a GP anaesthetist who practices in Echuca, Kerang and Cohuna in northeast Victoria, says doctors have also been reluctant to leave their community due to the small chance they could become infected with coronavirus and bring it back to their areas.

For some, COVID-19 has meant sacrificing their family life, she said on ABC radio.