KUCHING, May 17: The demand for intensive care unit (ICU) beds has nearly doubled within one month and the number of Covid-19 fatalities in the State has also increased drastically, following the recent surge in new cases reported daily.
According to Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian in a statement posted on his Facebook page yesterday, from April 16 until May 16, 2021, statistics showed an increase of 293 cases involving the usage of ICU beds and regulators, and an upward trend was also observed in the number of deaths reported.
He said on April 16, only 227 ICU beds were being used, with zero cases on ventilators and zero fatalities, but as of May 16, a total of 520 ICU beds and 272 ventilators are currently being used, with 36 fatalities recorded.
Dr Sim noted that the statistics also showed that the increase in the number of cases started on April 30, when a total of 328 ICU beds together with 161 ventilators were used, and 14 deaths were reported.
On the same note, Dr Sim disclosed that the State does not have enough ICU resources, as well as highly trained ICU nurses and specialists.
As such, he also called for all Sarawakians to play their role and do their part in complying with standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the authorities to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“Let’s work together, let’s have a spirit of solidarity and our united war effort, playing our role and doing our part, We have done it for Sarawak last year. Let’s do it for Sarawak (over) next few weeks, buy us time before a substantial amount of vaccines arrive Sarawak from June onward,” he added. — DayakDaily
