Muscat: As many as 124 Covid-19 patients have been admitted to the field hospital where occupancy stood at more than 90%.
Dr Nabil Mohammed al Lawatia, Director of the Covid-19 Field Hospital, said in a statement to Oman News Agency (ONA) that the hospital’s capacity has been raised to 150 beds, with 50 beds added since May 25, 2021.
Al Lawatia pointed out that the hospital received 31 patients on Sunday and that the facility received 24 or more patients on a daily average recently. “The longer the patients stay at the hospital, the more pressure is exerted on the facility’s ability to receive new cases. The hospital is undergoing a huge pressure as the number of new cases keeps rising,” said Dr Nabil.
He explained that the cases to which the hospital is attending currently are more extreme, compared to similar instances during the past wave of infections. “The cases that reach us are ones suffering sharp shortage in oxygen or obvious damage to the respiratory system, which show right from the first week of symptoms,” said Dr Nabil, noting that such symptoms used to appear in the second week after infection, which proves that this variant of the virus is more ferocious.
Dr Nabil al Lawatia said that most of the cases received at the Field Hospital are those of patients aged less than 60 years. Only a small proportion of the patients received two doses, said Dr Nabil, who explained that those who received at least one dose had less acute symptoms, compared to those who receive none. He urged all to take Covid-19 vaccination and to keep adhering to precautionary measures. --ONA
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