Filenews 30 December 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
The Intensive Care Units and the Increased Care Units have been under enormous pressure over the last twenty-four hours. According to the official data of the CySEC, as announced every night by the Ministry of Health, one in two coronavirus patients is hospitalized in a serious or critical condition, resulting in both the ICU and the PPE that are already at the limits of their capacity.
On Tuesday night, a total of 164 patients were hospitalized, of which 84 were in serious condition. Of these, 27 were intubated, 8 were hospitalized in an off-ventilator Intensive Care Unit and 49 in an Increased Care Unit.
Similar was Monday's data when a total of 161 patients were hospitalized, of which 78 were in serious condition, and to these numbers should be added daily and double-digit number of intubated post-covid patients. Patients who were infected by the coronavirus, needed hospitalization, were admitted to ICU and intubated, overcame the coronavirus but still need intensive hospitalization since their state of health does not allow their detour.
Indicative of the situation was yesterday when in the ICU (with a capacity of 65 beds), 31 coronavirus patients and 15 intubated post-covid patients were hospitalized. In addition to these 46 patients, there were 20 other patients with other health problems in hospitalization in the ICU, which means that the Intensive Care Units of Nicosia Hospital were at the limits of their occupancy.
"The 1,925 cases identified on Monday, as well as the 2,241 announced on Tuesday, do not allow us to be complacent or rest on the relative stability observed in the total number of hospitalized with coronavirus," CYSEC spokesman Charalambos Charilaou told "F", adding that the CySEC, "is on constant alert but also on hand for hospitalization of 300 patients in wards and the opening of additional beds in ICU and at the same time has been hired number of nurses and intensivists (Greeks) who take up duties next week and at the same time we have been reinforced with additional ventilators.
"With the case numbers we have been seeing in recent days we cannot say for sure how many cases will be imported in the next twenty-four hours, but if we follow the models we have been following so far, we should definitely expect an increase," he added. He said that an effort is being made to increase ICU beds with the operation of a fourth unit at Nicosia Hospital and a closed unit for patients with other health problems at Larnaka Hospital. He noted, at the same time, that "non-Covid and post-Covid patients are already being referred to intensive units in the private sector in order to decongest the system".
In recent days, Mr. Harilaou added, "there has also been an increase in the number of pregnant women who are infected with the coronavirus and need hospitalization. As a result, we had to proceed with new arrangements at Makarios hospital as well."
Mr. Harilaou went on to say that "the situation can only be alarming. One cannot speak for sure, we will have to see if it is the Omikron mutation. In the coming days we will see whether the pressure on the hospitals will increase" and added that "there is a plan in the CYSO to deal with any increased hospitalizations. There is a plan in case of an increase in imports, but everyone must realize that the strength of the system is not unlimited. We are monitoring the situation, we have done our preparatory work and our preparation and we are ready to serve all patients. But that does not mean that there should be complacency from anyone. Vaccination along with strict adherence to personal protection measures can prevent disease and hospitalization or admission to a PPE or ICU. That's why we always say that citizens should be careful both in their movements and in their interactions and have in their minds both their own protection and those around them."
Concern in the National Guard
Sixty to eight cases were detected in two days in National Guard camps while the total number of active cases at the moment according to the Defence Ministry reaches 145 people.
As the spokesman of the Ministry of Defence, Christos Pieri, said in his statements, "the problem with the increased cases of the last two days, lies in the return of the Christmas group back to the camps, as they had to present a negative test, which highlighted the reality". As he mentioned, while in the previous days 2-3 cases were detected daily, on Monday 32 positive cases were detected, and on Tuesday another 36.
He also said that those who tested positive, declare themselves asymptomatic, which, he said, "is also insidious and therefore requires increased vigilance".
He made it clear that "there is no thought of postponing the other two groups, that of New Year's Day and Epiphany, but everyone must be vigilant during their social activities".
Self-tests are not valid for trafficking purposes
The health ministry had ordered to secure 300,000 self-tests and until yesterday around 200,000 had been made available to pharmacies, the coordinator of the health ministry's population control program, Karolina Stylianou, said in a statement, adding that indeed some pharmacies do not currently have tests available to make available to citizens, however, as he said this is something that will be sorted out. He clarified that "the self test is an additional tool in the hands of vaccinated individuals and in case of a positive result it should be confirmed by a new sampling by a health professional" and underlined that "the result of a self-test cannot be considered valid for trafficking purposes (SafePass).
The person who will have a positive result, he said, "should contact his personal doctor or undergo a rapid test in a laboratory and if he is positive and the second test will follow the procedure that is always followed after informing the surveillance unit of the ministry of health."
So far, he said in conclusion, "there is no data on the number of cases detected by the self-test method and confirmed by a second examination."
