A couple of hours into the new decade, while many people were stumbling home to bed after celebrating New Year's Eve, Dr Steve Robson was driving through a "smoky hell" to a Canberra hospital to deliver a baby.

"I had the little spotlight that you use to look at things and it went through the smoke and we all realised that in this birth suite, this baby was born into bushfire smoke," the obstetrician told BuzzFeed News.

"The couple was really anxious and they said 'Look, we're really worried about what the future will look like'."

On Jan. 1, Australia's capital city recorded its worst air quality on record, with an air quality index reading in one suburb of 4,650 — more than 23 times the hazardous level of 200. The next day, an elderly woman died after going into respiratory distress when exiting a plane in Canberra.

Canberra Hospital said some MRI machines had been affected by the smoke and were unable to run.