Infection numbers growing in Harju County, hospital network is worried
Statistics from the last few days show that the incidence of COVID-19 is increasing in Harju and Pärnu counties, which means that the number of people in need of hospital treatment is expected to increase there in the coming weeks the Health Board's (Terviseamet) Emergency Medicine Chief Urmas Sule told ERR.
"Currently, it can be seen that the disease is starting to turn around, and the most worrying thing about the medical system is when the virus is moving to Harju County because there is incomparably the largest number of Estonians here," Sule said.
As of Monday morning, 195 people with coronavirus need hospital treatment. Sule said there has always been a fear among doctors that 200 patients will be reached during the third wave, and this limit will probably be reached this week.
"But if you look at the previous forecasts, there is still a smaller number than we were afraid it would be good in that sense," Sule said.
Among the age groups, younger middle-aged and middle-aged people have started to turn to the hospital more than before, Sule said. "Recently, it has been clear that those in need of hospital treatment have become younger, younger people are more seriously ill," he noted.
Regarding coronavirus deaths, Sule said that patients with serious comorbidities died during the third wave.
Additional hospital places will be created in Tallinn
As the virus is spreading in North Estonia, preparations are already underway to increase the capacity of hospital treatment, Sule said. According to the agreement made last week, an additional 29 places will be created in East Tallinn for the treatment of coronavirus patients; on Sunday, PERH began preparations, switching from six COVID-19 intensive care units to more than 14.
On the positive side, Sule pointed out that ten coronavirus beds were removed in Narva Hospital this week, as there were simply no COVID-19 patients there.
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Editor: Roberta Vaino