Coronavirus: Hospital beds freed up for non-virus patients

Hospitals have seen a significant improvement in the past few days, state health services (Okypy) spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said on Wednesday.

There are currently 150 coronavirus patients in hospitals, of whom 33 are in ICU. Among the 33 patients in ICU, 26 are intubated.

This number is still quite high, but normal as ICUs are the last to empty, Charilaou said, expressing the hope that it will stabilise soon.

He added that Okypy is currently working on an action plan for the gradual repurposing of hospital beds and wards for non-Covid patients as virus hospitalisations fall.

Charliaou said that Paphos hospital will not be accepting new coronavirus patients and new admissions will be redirected to Limassol hospital. When the last coronavirus patient is discharged, the wards used for Covid patients will be returned to the hospital’s orthopaedics and pathology clinics, he added.

Lastly, he said that the national vaccination plan’s recent acceleration has helped a large number of health professionals and hospital employees get vaccinated.