The domestic medical system may not be able to withstand the load if up to 30 new cases of COVID-19 per day are recorded in the country for a certain period. This was announced by Health Minister Maksym Stepanov on the talk show "Peace and War" on the "Inter" TV channel.
"If there is a threat of a complete collapse of the medical system, we will insist on the introduction of tougher measures. For us, the main indicator is the number of people who are hospitalized. If it is based on today's percentage of seriously ill people who are admitted to the hospital, then I think that the rate of almost 30 sick people per day during a certain period can cause serious problems with the burden on the medical system," the head of the Ministry of Health noted.
According to Stepanov, the capacity of the domestic medical system to allocate hospital beds for providing medical care to patients with COVID-19 currently amounts to 75-80 thousand. As of November 20, there were 27 patients with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of "coronavirus disease" in hospitals.
"We found an opportunity to increase the number of beds in hospitals for the reception of patients with COVID-19. If we were talking about 51 thousand beds, now we are talking about the fact that up to 75-80 thousand beds can be deployed throughout the country. That is, the capacity of the medical system will be increased," Stepanov clarified.
At the same time, he emphasized that compliance with the anti-epidemic rules established in the country, in particular, provided by the "day off" quarantine, will avoid the collapse of the medical system and the introduction of a complete lockdown.
"I am absolutely sure that our epidemiologists are of the same opinion, if we adhere to the measures introduced in the country, we will be able to slow down the spread of COVID-19. If we stop at 12-13 new cases per day, our system will withstand it," Stepanov emphasized.
Note that the Ministry of Health expects that the "weekend" quarantine will be effective 14 days after it comes into effect on November 14.
