Coronavirus: Okypy braces for increase in hospitalisations

The island is at a “critical juncture” regarding the pandemic, state health services organisation (Okypy) said on Thursday, while anticipating that hospitalisations will increase further following a surge in cases this month.

With the positivity rate spiralling to 1.18 per cent after 429 new positive cases of coronavirus were announced on Wednesday out of 36,239 PCR and rapid tests, health officials warned the situation is “critical” and “fragile”.

“The big increase [in hospitalisations] will start now,” since it usually takes about ten days for those who test positive to present serious symptoms, Okypy’s spokesman Charalambos Charilaou said in his statements to Alpha on Thursday.

He also called on people who are self-isolating with Covid-19 to keep in touch with their doctor and visit the hospital once their symptoms worsen.

There are currently 54 people being treated for coronavirus at the state hospitals, 19 of whom are in serious condition.

Patients over the last few days concern younger people aged from 18 to 30, Charilaou said. The youngest patient this week was a 17-year-old woman was treated in the Covid ward of the Limassol general hospital with thrombosis and was discharged on Wednesday.

Young patients may end up in the high dependency unit or at the ICU, Charilaou added.

Hospitalisations increased nationwide, with the exception of Paphos, where fewer cases have been detected. Charilaou attributed this to the high percentage of vaccinations in the district.

According to recent data by the health ministry, around 73 per cent of the adult population have received a first jab in Paphos. Nicosia comes next with 64.5 per cent, Limassol with 61.2 per cent while 59.4 per cent of Larnaca’s population has received at least one dose of the vaccine. In Famagusta, the rate is 64.1 per cent.

While officials are calling on young people to get vaccinated to contain the pandemic, some health professionals are reported to be discouraging their patients from receiving any Covid-19 vaccine.

The reports have been confirmed by the Cyprus Medical Association (CMA) who in a written statement issued on Thursday, reiterated that it “strongly recommends vaccination against Covid-19”.

“What has been reported and concerns isolated members who act contrary to the instructions of the competent authorities on this issue, these have not escaped our attention,” CMA president Dr Petros Agathangelou said.

And he added: “Where after due investigation it is established that there is a violation of the code of medical ethics, then the legal procedures are followed by the competent bodies of the association”.

Mass vaccination is “currently the most powerful weapon we have in our hands”, the association said.