Covid19 hospital system 70% full

PRINCIPAL medical officer of institutions at the Health Ministry Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said the occupancy rate in the parallel health care system is now at 70 per cent, the highest it has been since the beginning of the pandemic.

She was speaking at a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, on Friday afternoon.

She said the rolling average of daily cases is at 471 and an additional 40 patients a day are being admitted.

Eighteen per cent of people (18 out of 100 patients) who become infected are admitted to hospital, while only three per cent are discharged, she said, and the other 15 per cent stay in hospital longer.

There are 436 beds available in Trinidad at five hospitals, Abdool-Richards said. Of these, as of Friday, 98 out of 100 beds at the Caura Hospital were full, 75 per cent of the beds at Couva Hospital were full, 44 out of 45 beds at the Augustus Long Hospital were filled and the Arima General Hospital was at 60 per cent capacity.

Richards said an additional 60 beds would be added to the parallel system in the next 48 hours. She stressed that finding the human resources to staff these beds was a struggle

She also said the ambulance system was being overwhelmed.