Filenews 11 January 2023 - by Marilena Panayi
Not only do the viruses not subside, but now it has made its raid on the general population for good and influenza A. People of all ages, based on the official data of the Ministry of Health, are admitted to hospitals with severe symptoms of respiratory infections while the number of hospitalized patients with coronavirus is increasing almost daily.
Pulmonology, pathology and paediatric departments in public hospitals remain overcrowded with patients now being treated in wards of other medical specialties while experts warn of the continuation, recommend faithful implementation of personal protection measures and talk about a prolonged outbreak of viruses this year.
In the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve (26/12/2022 -1/1/2023), as shown by the data of the Ministry of Health and the official data recording which is done only by some hospitals of the SHSO, a total of 108 people of all ages had to be admitted for hospitalization. 58 of these people, confirmed to have contracted influenza A. One person was confirmed with influenza B, 9 cases involved the RSV virus and the remaining 39 cases other viruses.
It is noteworthy that among the hospitalized there were people of all ages with children from 0 to 14 years old recording a total rate of 63% (33% under 4 years old and 30% from 5-14 years old). 6% of those hospitalized were people aged 15-39, 11% were people aged 40-64 and the remaining 20% were elderly and elderly.
As the director of Medical Services Elisavet Constantinou explained to "F", "these numbers do not refer to all the cases we have in Cyprus, since our data come from public hospitals and do not include the private sector". Also, he said, "it should be taken for granted that in the intervening week, that is, from January 2 onwards until today, the number of cases is increased and this is due both to the gatherings that followed and to the return of children to schools. So we have to wait for bigger numbers in the next data recording."
From the number of hospitalized patients, Mrs. Constantinou pointed out, "we also understand the size of the number of people who are infected daily by viruses that have an outbreak and influenza A, and fortunately do not need hospitalization".
The director of Medical Services in her statements to "F" stressed that flu vaccines are available free of charge for people of all ages and explained that vaccinations are done by personal doctors and paediatricians. "There are enough stocks and people should even now get vaccinated because the flu remains in the community usually until March." A total of 170,000 flu vaccines have been introduced by the health ministry this year, he said. By December 15, 103,180 vaccines had been administered, or 60% of the vaccines imported, and "therefore there is a stock available to vaccinate several more thousand citizens."
Regarding the situation in public hospitals, the spokesman of the State Health Services Organization Charalambos Charilaou told "F" that "we have an increased flow of patients with influenza A while the rest of the respiratory infections continue. The pathological and pulmonary wards are overcrowded on a daily basis and we have patients with viruses in other departments." For coronavirus patients, Mr. Harilaou said that by Monday afternoon they had reached 96 with 16 in serious condition. Six of them were intubated in the Intensive Care Unit.
Mr. Charilaou appealed to the citizens for strict adherence to personal protection measures. "We see that the surge in infections is prolonged. We also have an increase in the numbers of cases and hospitalizations with coronavirus. The flu is now adding to all this and a great dynamic is presented. It was good for all of us to observe personal protection measures and to be careful especially with people who belong to the vulnerable groups of the population". In recent days, "we are seeing a general increase in the numbers of admissions for all viruses."
