For the past few weeks, Dr Cam McLaren has been travelling in his car to regional towns across Victoria: Sunbury on the outskirts of Melbourne, or Seymour in the Goulburn Valley to the north.

Countless hours on the road, hundreds of kilometres covered, almost always alone.

In his doctor’s bag are masks, gloves and hand sanitiser — the mundane but necessary equipment for medical practice in times of a viral pandemic.

In the town of Bunyip, he pulls up outside a house and dons the protective gear before knocking on the door.