Coronavirus: Matter of time before hospitals reach their limit, minister warns (Updated)

Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou warned Wednesday that at the current rate of hospital admissions due to Covid, state hospitals would soon be unable to afford quality care to patients despite the deployment of additional beds.

“On average, between seven and 10 people are admitted, a higher number than discharges,” the minister said in a statement. “If we continue to see this rising trend in coming days, it is a matter of time before we reach the limits of the health system where it will not be possible to provide quality treatment to patients.”

Ioannou said state hospitals could now treat 400 Covid patients, up from 250 in December, and at the same time provide healthcare to patients with other conditions.

“However, the driving force to be in position to afford quality health services to Covid-19 patients is the availability of human resources of certain specialties, which admittedly is not unlimited,” the minister said.

Cyprus on Tuesday allowed the opening of the hospitality sector under strict restrictions though the daily number of cases remained high.

The minister said measures mainly focused on uplifting people psychologically but also aimed at stabilising and reducing infections and hospitalisations.

“We are trying to complete the effort that started a year ago with the highest possible safety and the fewer possible losses,” he said.

The state health services organisation (Okypy) said hospitals were at 80 per cent capacity, including all cases, and it was opening Covid wards at Larnaca and Paphos hospitals.

On Tuesday, state hospitals were treating 221 patients for Covid, including 42 in ICUs and high dependency units.

Of the 42, 11 were intubated while 12 were being treated in ICUs without intubation. Nineteen were in high dependency units.

Tuesday saw 475 new infections, which however included contacts of previously confirmed cases that had not been reported on Monday, a public holiday.

What puzzled scientists was the rise in hospitalisations of younger people, who were also the most active. ICU admissions remained at manageable levels.

Professor Petros Karayiannis said there were younger people with serious symptoms, something that was not the case previously.

“Maybe it is due to mutations,” he told Alpha television.

The government’s advisory team discussed the situation in a teleconference on Tuesday evening, expressing satisfaction that non-Covid cases were being referred to the private sector.