Doha: The number of people receiving life-saving treatment due to Covid-19 has more than doubled, a senior health official said.
In comparison, there are more people in intensive care units now than at the peak of the first wave.
“Since the middle of March, the number of people receiving life-saving medical treatment in our intensive care units has more than doubled and we now have over 280 people with COVID-19 in intensive care. To put this into perspective, at the peak of the first wave in May 2020, we had around 220 patients in intensive care. It is clear that people are becoming sicker and experiencing more severe symptoms in this second wave of the virus,” said Dr. Ahmed Mohammed, Acting Chairman of HMC’s Intensive Care Units.
“The new UK variant has contributed to the increase in the number of new daily cases in Qatar. And, worryingly, we are now seeing a very high number of people becoming very sick due to COVID-19 and requiring admission to hospital to manage their symptoms and even admission into ICU for life-saving treatment,” he had said during a press conference last week.
Dr. Mohammed Al Thani, Director of Public Health at MOPH, explained that despite the increased health risks presented by the UK variant, people can still take proactive steps to protect themselves and greatly reduce their chances of getting infected and becoming sick.
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