Coronavirus: Officials fear rise in hospitalisations

The rise in hospitalisations might lead the island to a “critical situation”, officials warned on Monday as a health ministry’s advisor said Cyprus is experiencing a fourth wave of the coronavirus outbreak.

The focus has turned to state hospitals that will have to carry the weight following a surge in coronavirus cases with a record of 993 daily cases last Thursday.

Cyprus is going through a fourth wave of the virus, according to one of the government’s advisers Dr Maria Koliou. She said the situation will become critical if Cyprus starts experiencing a shortage of hospital beds, respirators and nursing staff.

Her warning came after state health services organisation (Okypy) spokesman Charalambos Charilaou, told the CyBC that issues will arise if hospitalisations surpass 300. As of Sunday, 139 patients were being treated for Covid-19 in state hospitals, 34 of whom in serious condition, while 13 were intubated.

The problem, according to Charialou, is a lot of patients are being treated for other health issues, which limits the number of beds available in Covid wards.

Meanwhile, 25 per cent of the health professionals are on holiday leave, Charialou said.

If the number of patients increase further, holiday requests might have to be turned down, said the spokesman, repeating a warning issued last week.

To curb the increase of cases and hospitalisation, Koliou made another public call for vaccinations against Covid-19, saying this will contain the spread of the virus.