Parallel healthcare system down to 72% occupancy

THE parallel healthcare system is now 72 per cent full.

This was revealed by epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds at the Health Ministry's virtual press conference on Monday morning.

Last Wednesday, the parallel healthcare system was at 84 per cent occupancy, with the High Dependency Unit (HDU) 100 per cent full and the Intensive Care Unit at 77 per cent.

But on Monday, Hinds said the ward-level beds were now 76 per cent filled, with the HDU at 16 per cent and the ICU at 85 per cent.

He said he is hoping the impact of the new public health regulations, in addition to the state of emergency and curfew, will soon be reflected in the data.

But he said it's "a bit premature" to set strict timelines as to when there will begin to be a decrease in cases as that depends on how the population behaves.

"As we have seen in previous cycles of these restrictions, it takes approximately two weeks to see whether there is an effect or not," he pointed out.