“We’re on the Brink”: Paraguay Warns that 97% of Beds Are Occupied Due to Coronavirus Spike
Authorities reported that during the weekend 14 patients had to be transferred to the private hospitals.
Paraguay’s public health system is “on the verge” of capacity due to the significant increase in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in recent weeks, the Director of Intensive Therapies of the Ministry of Health, Leticia Pintos, acknowledged on Monday.
In an interview with Radio ABC Cardinal, the official said “40 people are hospitalized in the private hospitals. At the national level 97 percent of beds are occupied. We’re on the brink.”
Pintos explained that in the Central department, adjacent to the capital Asunción, the situation is dire and the system is at the collapsing point. The doctor said that last weekend 14 patients had to be referred to private hospitals due to the shortage of beds.
In keeping with the declarations of the Health Coordinator, the Director of Communicable Diseases of the Ministry of Health, Viviana de Egea, stated that “the average of new admissions is between 25 and 30 per day in Asunción and Central [the department].”
Consulted during an interview on Radio Nacional, the official warned that due to the increase in COVID-19 cases the public sector hospitals “are at 90 percent bed capacity.”
As of Monday, the Paraguayan Ministry of Health has recorded a total of 122,588 COVID-19 cases, and a total of 2,518 deaths. In the last 24 hours, authorities registered 428 infections and 13 deaths.
Likewise, the Ministry of Health reported 854 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, of whom 204 are in intensive care units, the highest number since the beginning of the pandemic.
In addition, it was officially reported that Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benítez has entered a preventive quarantine in the presidential residence at Mburuvicha Róga, after having contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus,
Featured image: Paraguay Minister of Health, Twitter @msaludpy.
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