Ward to treat suspected COVID-19 cases opens in Paphos General Hospital

A ward to deal exclusively with suspected coronavirus cases was placed in operation on Monday at the Paphos General Hospital.

The ward opened its doors at 7.30am on Monday after extensive preparations over the weekend.

According to the interim director of the Paphos General, Joseph Moutiris, suspected cases will be admitted into the ward for short periods of time, and transferred to coronavirus reference hospitals or sent home to self-isolate if tests confirm they carry the virus.

The ward, on the third floor of the Paphos General Hospital, consists of ten rooms, will be manned by three state doctors, 23 nurses, as well as one assistant, one cleaner, and one cleric, who will only be stationed in the new ward and will not move around to other areas of the hospital.

The hospital’s Intensive Care Unit was also re-opened on Monday, while the maternity ward is expected to resume operations in the coming days.

Currently, a skeleton crew is running the hospital’s A&E, haemodialysis, thalassemia, laboratory, and radiology departments.

Patients and staff at the haemodialysis unit are to be re-checked for coronavirus after a patient being treated there recently tested positive for the virus.

Private lab opens sampling point in Paphos

The Paphos Municipality announced on Monday that it had provided the former District Governor’s House premises free of charge to the private company NIPD Genetics to conduct coronavirus tests, with the facility launching operations on Monday.

The Municipality clarified that individuals will bear the cost of the tests, which are determined by the private company. Reports said that the lab will charge €150 for a coronavirus test.

The sampling site will operate daily, including Saturdays and Sunday, between 8am and 2pm, with results to be ready in less than 24 hours.

NIPD Genetics, whose founder and Director is a professor and former health minister Philippos Patsalis is the first private company to take up the Paphos municipality’s offer to provide local authority infrastructure for free so that accredited sampling points can be set up.

Any other approved private lab wishing to set up a sampling point in the Paphos municipality may contact the municipal secretary Themis Philippides at 26822359 or 26935500.