The coronavirus pandemic is still on the rise in the Valencian Community and will continue to be so for the remainder of the week and next, according to the forecast from the Ministry of Health
The number of deaths in the Alicante province has risen to 17 with a further 26 patients hospitalised. In the last hours there have been 34 new cases bringing the total to 372.
Valencian Minister of Health, Ana Barceló, said at a video conference yesterday evening, that she expects the infected to continue to rise next week
The total number of deaths is 33 in all three provinces. There are also a total of 184 new positives, 34 of them in Alicante, bringing the total number of cases in the whole of the Valencian Community to 1,105. There have also been 20 discharges, 7 of them in the province. Barceló said yesterday that three quarters of the coronavirus patients are over 75 years old.
The number of patients admitted to hospitals in the province is also increasing. Yesterday they were 151, which is 26 more than the day before. Fortunately, in the last few hours the number of people who have required to be moved into the Intensive Care Units has not changed, a total of 24.
At the moment, in the province’s largest hospital, the Alicante General, the situation in terms of available beds and critical care is not worrying, since all the delayed operations have been suspended, and there are hardly any scheduled admissions at this time.
In the ICU yesterday there were eight free beds, although staff spoke of the great physical and emotional stress they are enduring and fears that in the coming days the numbers could dramatically increase, as is the case in Madrid. However, if this happens, there are a number of things that could be done.
They are also concerned about the shortage of material to cope with any increase, particularly ventilators.
Of the patients admitted yesterday to the ICU of the Alicante General Hospital, except for two cases, the remainder have no underlying pathologies and there are cases in people below 55 years of age. Also in the Hospital de Sant Joan, a 30-year-old man remains hospitalized for Covid-19 but without underlying symptoms.
A second floor, which is usually used for the admission of trauma patients, has now been cleared to be used for suspected cases of Covid-19 in Alicante General.
In total there are 30 beds in individual rooms for these patients who will remain there until the diagnosis is confirmed, after which they are moved to the Infectious Diseases or Internal Medicine wards.
About 230 health staff from this department have tested positive for coronavirus or they are isolated in their homes, having come into contact with a confirmed case of the disease without due protection.
This outbreak among the staff, in addition to the cases diagnosed in the Alcoy nursing, explains why, in recent days, there have been a greater number of positive cases in the province of Alicante, the Minister said.
In addition to the Alcoy residence that is now under the control of the Ministry, in the last few hours four other centres in the province of Alicante have been placed under the supervision of The Ministry of Health. At least one of these is in Elche.
This step is taken either because there have been confirmed cases of the disease or because the health personnel attending to them are in quarantine for having come into contact with a suspected case. There are two other residences in Valencia and another in Castellón in the same situation.
Yesterday the Ministry of Health launched a scheme to recruit retired doctors and nurses under 70 years of age and also doctors who do not yet have a speciality but who want to work in hospitals. So far, some thirty professionals have registered on the exchange, including retirees, non-specialized doctors and pre-MIR students. The list will be sent to the Ministry of Health.
The president of the institution, María Isabel Moya, said that “all help is well received” and hopes that the supply of volunteer doctors will grow.
