Hospitals in the Algarve have 49 patients in Covid-19 wards, 12 of which are in intensive care, with a trend towards an increase in admissions among the youngest, said this Thursday, 1 July, a source from the University Hospital Center of the Algarve (HUA).
Speaking to Lusa, the chairman of the board of directors of CHUA said that patients admitted to hospitals in Faro and from Portimão are aged between 23 and 67 years, "a younger age group than what was seen in previous admissions".
«It is really a younger population that we have hospitalized and that does not have vaccination», pointed out Ana Varges Gomes, stressing that there are «a greater number of young patients hospitalized who are ill, who do not know if they will fully recover or if they will be left with sequelae».
She attributes the increase in cases to non-compliance with the recommended health rules, due to the fact that people still think that the disease "only affects the elderly", contrary to what is happening.
According to Ana Varges Gomes, the total number of admissions (49) in the two hospitals in the Algarve represents about 60% of the limit of 80 beds defined for the region, with no forecast for opening more beds for the time being.
«Right now we are in phase 2 of the contingency plan, which has four phases, and we do not plan to open more beds, because we still have 21 vacancies. However, we are monitoring the phases and we will open beds as needed», he said.
For her, the epidemiological situation in the Algarve "deserves some surveillance", given the significant increase in cases of infections of the disease in recent weeks in younger age groups and given the forecast of an increase in population during the summer.
"At this time, there is still no prospect of opening more beds, because we kept the normal activity, but the situation deserves our vigilance due to the increase in cases of infections and for us to go on making decisions on a daily basis", he underlined.
Ana Varges Gomes admitted that if the situation in the Algarve significantly worsens, the vacation of health professionals may be affected, a possibility already taken up by the secretary of State coordinating the response to Covid-19 in the region.
"If the cases increase and we have to open more places and more Covid beds, and with the foreseeable increase of the population in the summer, we will naturally have to retract the holidays and, probably, we will have the professional holidays affected", he said.
According to the official, health professionals are apprehensive about the evolution of the pandemic situation, "since people are not complying with what they should, that is, in compliance with the recommendations" of the health authorities.
«Now we have 450 thousand inhabitants [in the Algarve] to help and, by the time of summer, we now have around two million with some ease. If people start to get sick with Covid, there is no structure with the capacity for this type of population increase», he pointed out.
The president of the CHUA administration called on people to comply with "the norms and rules of hygiene and social distancing, which have long been known, as well as vaccination, as a way to avoid serious cases of the disease."
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