Filenews 4 January 2022 - by Marilena Panagi
The huge numbers of cases recorded in the last week are forcing the State Health Services Agency to be on constant alert as on Sunday night the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients exceeded 200 and estimates show a further increase in the coming days.
The number of new admissions "that we now have on a daily basis, exceeds 25", said the spokesman of the CySEC Charalambos Charilaou, speaking to "F", adding that "at the same time the daily number of discharges is 15 and therefore one can easily understand the difference".
The most important thing, he said continuing in his statements, "is that one in two coronavirus patients is hospitalized in a serious condition, either in increased care unit conditions or in an Intensive Care Unit. We observe that one in 10 patients needs eventually the ICU, while of those hospitalized in a MAF, one-third are intubated and are eventually also admitted to an ICU."
He said, "it is also one of the reasons why as an ICU we have proceeded with the operation of additional ICU beds and we are in constant effort to increase our capacity even more."
It is inevitable, said Mr. Harilaou, "since we have such large numbers of cases to have an increased number of patients in our hospitals, which is why as a CSO we try to be in constant readiness. Even if the percentage of people affected by the "Omikron" mutation that end up in hospitals is less than the percentage we had in other mutations, with the four-digit numbers of cases daily, certainly in real numbers, the number of people hospitalized will be more."
Regarding the ages of the hospitalized, Mr. Harilaou mentioned that for the ICU the average age is 60 years and in the wards 63.
The CySEC, as announced yesterday, proceeded to the operation of 6 additional ICU beds in Larnaka Hospital with the prospect of operating another 6 if the need arises. At the same time, according to information provided by "F", an effort is being made to operate a fourth ICU in Nicosia hospital and it is not excluded that relevant announcements will be made within the day.
In his statements at Larnaka hospital, where the additional six beds operated, Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas said that "in the first phase, six intensive care unit beds will be developed at Larnaka General Hospital, which the system so badly needs and then we will be able to develop six more, if necessary, under certain conditions". At the same time, he stated that "there are problems, the cases that exist at the moment in our country, there are also all over the world, but if there is cooperation as there has been today between all the institutions, I believe that any problems we have will be solved for the good of the patients and for nothing else".
Asked whether there are staff available to operate the additional beds, the health minister said that "there are the doctors. At the meeting there was a minute that we agreed everything and it is mentioned which doctors will be working in this ICU, who will be on call and what needs to be done to get this unit up and running properly."
Asked to indicate if there are the necessary ventilators to be used, the minister said that "there are, and additional ones will come next week from Germany. Additional ventilators were requested for the ICU of Larnaca and the necessary arrangements were made."
Later in statements to "F", the health minister said that "if necessary additional beds will be operated for coronavirus patients in simple wards as well", adding that "our goal must be to meet any needs that arise". However, he suggested, "decisions are made at the moment the problem arises. We try to predict the data to act in a timely manner, but we always proceed on the basis of our needs for each specific moment."
He also said that "there is a plan under which if needed, we can secure another 14 ICU beds." But the important thing, he stressed, "is to take our measures so that people do not need hospitalization".
Therefore, he said, "we must all understand that it is imperative that we observe the protective measures. We must also ensure that all people over the age of 60 receive the booster dose of the vaccine which protects us from being admitted to the ICU. The stats are there. We see that people who have not been vaccinated and elderly people who have not received the third dose are currently in the ICU. We all have to take our share of the responsibility."
"It is up to us to stay safe," he said, concluding by stressing that "adhering to protective measures concerns all of us because those of us who have received the third dose of the vaccine also have a great risk to get infected with the virus and transmit it to others."
During yesterday, a record was recorded in Makarios hospital in terms of the number of children hospitalized with coronavirus. As the director of the hospital's paediatric clinic, Avraam Elias, said in his statements, "we are indeed going through the maelstrom of the fifth wave of the pandemic. It seems to be affecting the children's population to a large extent, this was expected. We have been saying since the summer, as children are more vulnerable, unvaccinated and can easily catch the virus. And this has been helped by the Omikron mutation, which is hyper-transmissible. So we have the highest number at the moment we are hospitalized at the same time. Nine children, the vast majority of them are young children, eight out of nine are under five years old, they are newborns and infants."
Referring to the symptoms presented by children, Mr. Elias said that "the symptoms they present are not severe and usually concern fever, breathing problems, gastrointestinal disorders", but he pointed out that "there is a particular concern for infants and newborns which due to the immaturity of their defence mechanism, these children may develop a serious microbial infection or even present complications".
Regarding the capacity of the paediatric department in beds for children with coronavirus, Mr. Elias said that "our capabilities in a Covid-19 ward reach 18 children. If admissions increase further, then we will turn the other paediatric ward into a Covid ward and transfer non-Covid cases to other wards of the hospital."
