Cyprus Mail 21 July 2021 - by George Psyllides
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| CNA |
Health authorities expressed concern on Wednesday over the increasing number of Covid admissions, which prompted repurposing hospital wards to accommodate people needing treatment.
“The situation is worrying,” the spokesman of the government health services organisation (Okypy) said. “We see the number rising by the day, admissions are more than releases … so the next days will be very difficult.”
Charalambos Charilaou said the problem was compounded by the increased number of patients with other ailments with authorities now referring people to the private sector in a bid to make room.
Hospitals have seen a rapid rise in Covid admissions along with the surge in daily infections, which has been at high triple digits for weeks.
On Tuesday, there were 231 patients with Covid in hospital, 23 in the ICU and 36 in high dependency units.
Judging by the numbers, the admissions were expected to rise further, Charilaou said.
Okypy opened an additional ward at Limassol general hospital on Tuesday to accommodate the additional cases.
“Due to the rapid rise in the number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19, one more ward has opened at Limassol general hospital,” Charilaou said.
Authorities basically converted the general ward into one to treat Covid patients exclusively.
Charilaou said more wards will be opened if deemed necessary.
They have also opened an additional short-term ward where doctors assessed whether patients needed to be admitted or if their condition could be monitored by their GP at home.
Charilaou said 4,022 people were treated in hospital until July 8, with 402 in intensive care units.
