Filenews 29 November 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
On the one hand, the continuous increase in the number of daily cases but mainly in the number of coronavirus patients admitted to public hospitals and on the other hand the appearance of the "Omikron" mutation in European Union countries, do not give the authorities room for complacency and already officially and publicly yesterday the Minister of Health Michalis Hadjipantelas did not exclude the possibility, if necessary, that additional restrictions may be applied.
Yesterday, the Minister of Health participated in a wide-ranging meeting with the task force of the State Health Services Organization, while today he sees the members of the Advisory Scientific Committee, some of whom, according to information provided by "F", have already sent their recommendations electronically since the end of last week to Michalis Chatzipandelas.
In fact, as reported by information provided by "F", among the recommendations already being processed by the Minister of Health, additional measures are included, for the longest possible delay of the entry of the "Omikron" mutation in Cyprus, as well as restrictions aimed at halting the outbreak of the pandemic, since as evidenced by the daily results, the spread of the virus is currently huge on a nationwide scale and therefore, it is necessary to take more stringent restrictive measures than those currently in force.
It is recalled that as of today, a decree enters into force which, among other things, imposes the use of masks on primary school students and the use of masks in all areas for children over 6 years old, while abolishing events in school units.
Regarding the meeting that took place at Nicosia General Hospital, the participants proceeded to record needs in terms of beds, staff and consumables and updated the operational plan.
Today it is expected that once again a decree will be issued which will prohibit the conduct of surgical procedures on patients who do not face urgent problems and it is not excluded that they will be involved from the next twenty-four hours in the effort to manage the needs of the pandemic and private hospitals.
On behalf of the nurses' unions, the issue of staffing of the Intensive Care Units and the wards that treat patients with coronavirus was raised once again, and as the president of PASYDY's nurses' sector, Prodromos Argyridis, told "F", "we expect that, as decided, staff from other departments will be saved to help colleagues in the ICU and Covid wards. The practice of covering needs with overtime cannot continue", he concluded.
