Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantela on Saturday said that Cypriot hospitals are ready to deal with an increased number of cases that might stemming from the rise of the Centaurus variant which is already spreading through parts of Europe.

He said that on Friday he participated in a lengthy meeting with relevant stakeholders, including the state health services organisation Okypy, as well as doctors and nursing unions.

“We all agreed that the coronavirus will be here in the coming months, so we have to find the formula so that our hospitals remain open and we don’t close them when we have an increase in hospitalisations,” the minister said.

The minister stressed that, at the same time, “our hospitals are fully prepared and if there are increased hospitalisations due to the new mutation, we will handle them”.

Asked to explain what will change in the way hospitals operate, Hadjipantela said that some procedural decisions were made, one example being applicable to patients “who come and block the emergency services”.

“We have agreed that there should be a council, maybe under the guidance of the Health Ministry, so that some elderly people, before they come to emergency services, can be offered some help by their personal doctors and nurses to see if they do indeed need hospitalisation,” the minister said.

He added that it was also decided to speed up PCR testing procedures in hospitals.

“We have also agreed that in some wards, where there is less risk, to house some patients there, rather than close an entire ward and make a disturbance, as has been done in the past,” he said.