Situation in hospitals will not only get worse in regards to patients Covid-19, but also patients with other illnesses - Dumpis

  • 2022-01-20
  • LETA/TBT Staff

RIGA - The situation in hospitals will not only get worse in regards to patients Covid-19, but also patients with other illnesses, Uga Dumpis, an infectious disease specialist at Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital and University of Latvia professor, told Latvian Television last night.

He stated that most of the patients currently being treated in hospitals are still those infected with the delta variant, but there are also patients with the omicron variant, although the percentage of hospitalization is lower.

Dumpis pointed out that it was patients with chronic illnesses infected with Covid-19 which could be a risk to hospitals.

"It must be understood that a large number of Latvian are becoming infected at the same time, and any viral infection can worsen chronic illnesses. And, of course, the situation in hospitals will get worse, not only at the expense of these so-called ''Covid beds'', but also at the expense of others - those patients with other illnesses," said the professor.

The infectologist refrained from predicting an exact increase in the number of inpatients, namely when 800 patients with Covid-19 could be hospitalized, which, according to the health minister, would mean tighter epidemiological restrictions by the government. He pointed out that if you look at the examples of different European countries, the situation is very different.

Asked about vaccination of 12 to 18 year-olds, Dumpis noted that there were currently no plans to rush the decision to allow booster vaccination for this age group, as this would not solve the problem.

"I think we will be waiting for a decision from the European Medicines Agency, and that could be for 16 to 18 year olds. However, the situation for children is different from those for other age groups. At the same time, I would like to emphasize that booster vaccination for other age groups is very much needed," stressed Dumpis.