Coronavirus: Covid ward ready for patients at Paphos hospital

A new Covid-19 ward at Paphos general hospital opened its doors on Monday morning, ready to accommodate the first patients, according to the state health services (Okypy) spokesman Charalambos Charilaou. 

Speaking to the Cyprus News Agency, Charilaou said all necessary procedures for the new ward to start working have been finalised, including the hiring of doctors and nurses. The ward currently has 48 beds. 

“We are ready to admit new patients in the ward,” he said. “The situation with Covid-19 at the hospitals is quite urgent. At some point last week, we were treating 221 patients with the virus, by Sunday the number slightly decreased to 212”. 

He also added that a stabilisation in the number of patients with coronavirus is to be expected throughout the coming week. 

“However, I cannot make promises, it will depend on whether everyone will adhere with the measures in place. We will have a better picture of the situation in the next 10-14 days,” he added. 

Health ministry advisor Petros Karayiannis also said on Sunday he is cautiously optimistic there will be a reduction of cases in the next weeks.

“The most positive development is the fact that, at the moment, there are more discharges than admissions of Covid-19 patients at state hospitals,” he said.

“Even the scenes we witnessed in Limassol two weeks ago, where hundreds of people gathered without masks and with no social distancing, do not seem to have overturned the positive trend we observed.”

Charilaou said he understands how everyone is tired of the situation and wants to go back to normality, but, regardless, he urged people to still be cautious. 

“We need to protect ourselves in order not to burden the hospitals, so wearing a mask, keeping distances and reducing our contacts are all important and necessary rules we still have to respect,” he said. 

Finally, he said that the vaccination programme is proceeding smoothly, adding that soon all health professionals working in state hospitals in Cyprus will have been vaccinated.