Health Minister Francisco Alabí reported that El Salvador Hospital still has 300 beds available. Currently, new cases are growing in the country, Health detailed.
It is estimated that 600 of the 979 beds in El Salvador Hospital are already occupied, said Health Minister Francisco Alabí, who also added that new cases, calls and assistance to hospitals due to COVID- 19 increased.
“There is an increase in the number of cases, and on 9 (January), we have more than 330 cases, admission was observed in hospital areas. There is support and the advantage of having the entire strategy consolidated in one of the hospitals. At the moment we have availability even in the hospital in El Salvador, we are still planning with an availability of over 300 beds, of which there is a very important information. However, a few weeks ago, these data changed, there are more Salvadorans in the hospital in El Salvador, “said Francisco Alabí in a morning television interview.
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The hospital for patients with COVID-19 located in the former facilities of the International Center for Fairs and Conventions (Cifco) has about 979 beds, of which 105 are ICU beds and 143 intermediate care beds, which could become ICU beds. More than 731 hospital beds for the care of stable patients with COVID-19, according to an article published in The Lancet Global Health in December 2020.
New cases, calls and hospitalization for COVID-19 have increased. EDH photography
Francisco Alabí mentioned that the increase in the number of cases is due to the crowds and family gatherings, as a result of the festivities at the end of the year.
“Now, if we see assistance to hospital areas, an increase in calls to call centers and a series of indicators that alert us to this situation, because this can lead to an increase in hospital admissions, the number of patients with complications and, of course, the number of patients who could have a fatality due to COVID-19, ”Alabí said.
The official stressed that the only way to prevent the disease is to practice basic measures and comply with biosecurity protocols, “it is the only way we can limit the transmission from person to person, preventing a Salvadoran (with COVID-19) from contact with a Salvadoran who has not suffered from the disease and who may be susceptible and that if in one way or another there is evidence that there are cases of reinfection, “Alabí said.
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In this regard, the Minister of Health noted that there are no documented cases of reinfection by COVID-19 in the country, “however, there are certain parameters at the national level that have been tried to restore them to state or classify clinically as a reinfection.
Internationally, there is a way to be able to frame and frame the diagnoses of reinfection criteria, because there is still much to investigate before this specific part, which is a period of 40 days in which the test can be positive or negative. And that means that a Salvadoran could have had the disease, in the end the test was negative, but in a period of 90 days, he could present the positive test and it could be due to the first infection “, he explained.
Alabí explained that unlike the critical months of the first COVID-19 outbreak, which were in July and August 1, when the number of cases reached over 449, it now has the support of El Salvador Hospital, while in previous months (July and August) the entire health system in the 31 hospitals worked with all hospital areas in covid-19 care. “Now El Salvador is still able to participate in one place, El Salvador Hospital,” he stressed.
With the increase in the number of cases reported to Covid-19, with about 330 new cases per day and 9 deaths caused by COVID-19 per day and more than 48,905 positive cases accumulated for the virus. The Minister of Health points out that 80% of confirmed cases of the virus are asymptomatic “and 20% require intervention, of which 15% receive treatment for moderate or severe symptoms and 5% progress to an area of intensive care where mechanical ventilation is needed,” says Alabí.
The official adds that the number of reported cases, although asymptomatic, gives them a parameter to know the population that continues to be susceptible to the virus and is estimated at 6.5 million Salvadorans, Alabí explained.