Coronavirus:  Occupancy at Famagusta hospital is dropping

Occupancy at the Famagusta referral hospital for Covid has dropped considerably, with 14 discharges taking place overall on Monday with just four new admissions, the facility’s scientific director has said.

“I believe that contributing to this decline is the faster pace of vaccinations plus the effects of the [two-week] lockdown,” Amalia Hadjiyianni told the Cyprus Mail.

Earlier, Hadjiyianni had told the Cyprus News Agency that by noon, 11 coronavirus patients had been released from the Famagusta hospital.

She later told the Cyprus Mail that in the afternoon three more persons were set to be discharged, taking the total number of patients down to 39. It was 49 on Sunday night.  There are also Covid patients in other hospitals.

The Famagusta hospital has the potential to treat 76 patients at a maximum.

Famagusta general hospital has six beds in its high-dependency unit, of which five are currently occupied.

Hadjiyianni said authorities adapt to the situation depending on the number of cases and admissions at any given time.

“The health services organisation (Okypy) has a Plan B and even a Plan C to roll out if need be,” she offered.

During a spike, and whenever overall admissions (mild cases plus ICU) reach 250, Okypy activates a contingency plan for up to 400 coronavirus beds.

Peak occupancy in Cyprus reached 297 beds, she said.

Asked about ICU capacity overall for covid specifically, the doctor gave a range of between 50 to 60 beds.

Peak ICU occupancy for Covid in Cyprus reached 45.

On whether healthcare executives in general have had any guidance from the government or the Covid advisory team as to whether there exists a ‘threshold’ that determines whether a ‘state of alert’ is reached – and which therefore might lead to restriction relaxations in general – Hadjiyianni said she was not aware of such.

Currently, the average age of patients at Famagusta hospital is 60 years.

The youngest patient is 31 years old, the eldest 91; the latter is unvaccinated.

As of Monday, only four patients there were aged over 80.