Paraguay has declared 100% occupancy of its intensive care beds due to COVID-19

The Paraguayan government has indicated that the bed occupancy rate in intensive care units has reached 100% amid a sharp rise in the epidemiological curve with over 2,000 positives per day.

“All the beds in the intensive care unit are occupied. Of the 655 beds we have in the public sector, integrated hospitals and the Social Security Institute, we currently have 655 occupied beds “, explained the director of health networks and services of the Paraguayan Ministry of Public Health, Leticia Pintos.

And he remarked: “We are talking about 100% occupation at the central level, at the capital level and, since last night, at the country level. We are working hard to install more intensive care, hospitalization and resuscitation beds ”.

Paraguay also has 92 places which are not intended for intensive care but for resuscitation and which are also occupied by patients. while waiting for the addition of 50 additional beds, according to the authorities.

In the second week of March, Paraguay recorded a 40 percent increase in cases compared to the first week of the same month, said the head of the General Directorate of Health Surveillance, Guillermo Sequera.

The latest bulletin of March 19 includes 2,006 new infections, a historic maximum, and 42 deaths, to add 190,499 cases and 3,662 deaths. There are 1,716 hospitalized patients, 382 of whom are in ICUs.

COVAX program help

According to the news agency, 36,000 other AstraZeneca vaccines arrived in Paraguay on Friday via the WHO Covax mechanism. AFP. The doses will be applied to health workers, in accordance with the official vaccination plan, health officials said.

The lot is added to 20,000 doses of Chinese Sinovac given in Chile and 4,000 Sputnik V purchased from Russia which will immunize 90% of the medical and paramedical personnel involved in the fight against the pandemic, said Health Minister Julio Borba.

Borba received the departure of AstraZeneca at the “Silvio Pettirossi” international airport in the company of the representative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO / WHO), Luis Escoto. “At the end of this month, 64,000 additional doses should complete 100,000 taken by the mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO),” the official told reporters.

Through the large-scale purchasing mechanism, Paraguay plans to acquire 4.3 million doses, in addition to the 1,000,000 purchased from the Russian Investment Fund, whose arrival has no specific date.

Until the last update, 12,442 healthcare professionals had already been vaccinated before the arrival this Friday of this batch of AstraZeneca. This vaccine “prevents Sars-Cov-2 disease with a 92% effectiveness and helps reduce severe forms. Its application has been approved for emergency use and for people over the age of 18, ”the Paraguayan Ministry of Health said in a report.

The report states that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the use of AstraZeneca vaccines “after some European countries suspended vaccination for suspected cases of thrombosis in a small percentage of those vaccinated.” And the ministry said that “the regulator has confirmed that the vaccine is effective and safe, after reviewing the latest documentation.”

With information from AFP and EuropaPress

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