Over the last four to five days, health officials have noticed a positive trend with the gap closing between the number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients and those being discharged. 

It means the parallel healthcare system has a better chance of avoiding being completely filled to capacity. 

This was revealed by Principal Medical Officer, Dr. Maryam Richards, during Saturday’s Covid-19 media briefing, hosted by the Office of the Prime Minister at the Diplomatic Centre in St. Ann’s.

She said this narrowing could be attributed to two major factors.

“Firstly, there is an improvement in the operational and allocation efficiency in the system. Over the last 24 hours, we added an additional 92 beds through the new Point Fortin Hospital, where there are 60 beds and additional 32 beds at the Couva field hospital,” she explained.

“Furthermore we have been reallocating human resources, that are doctors and nurses, into the demand areas. For example, we have converted about 30 ward beds into 11 additional ICU beds. We have also improved the clinical effiency, so we are looking at the accurate admission and discharge of persons.”

As of this morning, the overall hospital occupancy is at 70%. 

Individually, Trinidad is at 76%, with Tobago at 31%.