Coronavirus: Covid wards slowly emptying

The state health services (Okypy) on Thursday said that hospital wards previously used for Covid-19 patients were slowly emptying, allowing them to return to their original use.

Despite this, Famagusta hospital will remain the reference hospital.

Okypy spokesman Charalambos Charilaou told the Cyprus News Agency that the wards used to treat coronavirus patients in Paphos general hospital and Polis Chrysochous hospital have reopened for their intended uses, along with the pathology ward in Limassol hospital.

“We have an action plan endeavouring to slowly and steadily make more room for non-coronavirus patients in hospitals so that everyone has an equal chance to be treated,” he said.

He added that the situation in hospitals has clearly improved, with under 100 patients being treated for coronavirus at the moment. “We are hoping that we’ll see the number fall over the next few days, so that we can get back to a point where Covid is not the focal point of our services”.

Asked about the possibility of a new wave of infections in September or October, Charilaou said that “there is no complacency,” as the new variants appearing around the world are a global concern.

“We hope the need [to reopen Covid wards] does not arise again, but in case it does, we are prepared to bend over backwards and offer at services at any time,” he concluded.