Over the last week of summer, an increase in the incidence of coronavirus has been noted in St. Petersburg. If a week earlier, the virus was found daily in an average of 160 residents of the city, now in 180. Officials hope that the second wave of coronavirus will not overwhelm the city, but they are still preparing for it.
According to Head of the St. Petersburg Health Committee Dmitry Lisovets, the increase in detected cases does not yet indicate an increase in hospitalizations.
– The average number of patients admitted to hospitals is about 170, – Dmitry Lisovets told the TV channel 78, – This plateau lasts for 6-7 weeks.
Meanwhile, hospitals have already started preparing for the second wave of coronavirus. And, judging by the scale of training, doctors expect a larger number of cases than they were in the spring and early summer. Now in the city a little more than three thousand beds have been allocated for patients with coronavirus. In autumn and winter, there can be four times more of them.
– In autumn and winter, we can deploy up to 12 and up to 13 thousand [коек], – said Dmitry Lisovets.
According to him, in the near future, the Lenexpo will be prepared for the reception of “seriously ill patients” (now work is underway there to insulate the premises), a new building of the Hospital for war veterans is being built and a special building is being equipped on the territory of St. Luke’s hospital. In addition, St. Petersburg hospitals are stockpiling medicines and PPE.
According to the official, the likelihood of a simultaneous epidemiological rise of both common flu and COVID-19 is high in the fall.