Lockdown, but no slowdown in ICU cases, says Noor Hisham

Lockdown, but no slowdown in ICU cases, says Noor Hisham

There has been no significant decline in the number of patients requiring intensive care in the last two weeks.

The rate of occupancy of ICUs has breached the 100% mark, which means some critically ill patients cannot be placed in the ICU. (Facebook pic)
PETALING JAYA:
While daily Covid-19 cases have dropped since the lockdown, the number of patients in intensive care units (ICU) has not shown any significant decline in the last two weeks, says Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The health director-general said this was due to the new variants which has caused Covid-19 patients to quickly become seriously ill. A total of 924 patients are in ICU as of today, with 453 needing respiratory assistance.

“This situation has resulted in more patients requiring oxygen and respirators, especially among the elderly and patients with comorbidities,” Noor Hisham said in a statement.

He added that the overloaded capacity was also because ICU patients were recovering slower.

Noor Hisham said the rate of occupied ICU beds remained beyond 100% and this was concerning as some critically ill patients could not be placed in the ICU.

He said the health ministry had ramped up its capacities by increasing the number of beds at hospitals and quarantine and low-risk treatment centres. More beds in normal wards have also been repurposed to treat Covid-19 cases.

The ministry was also working together with 112 private hospitals to treat patients, involving 1,271 normal beds and 128 in the ICU.

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