According to reports from the Ministry of Health and Social Protection, as of January 5, the country has an availability of 44.35% of beds in intensive care units (ICU). This is that, of the 10,946 real ICU beds that the national territory has, 45.31% are occupied.
“Of this, 748 correspond to confirmed cases of covid-19, 321 to suspected cases, 5,022 to other diseases and a remaining 4,855 are available”Says John Manuel Delgado, director of Service Delivery of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection. The territories with the least availability are: Antioquia, with 22%; Tolima, with 27.62%, and Bolívar, with 29.07%.
Faced with cases of hospitalization due to covid-19, the Special Registry of Health Service Provided indicates that, In recent months, the curve has been concentrated in age groups between 40 and 90 years old; This shows, according to MinSalud, the importance of applying booster doses in this population.
© Esteban Vega La-Rotta
Colombia began the health emergency with 5,346 beds for ICU care and, at times of greatest demand, had up to 13,000.
In this regard, Delgado reiterated the urgency for these groups to go to the vaccination points, since data collected by the Ministry of Health is showing that heterologous immunization is safe and effective in all age groups, especially in susceptible groups, such as those over 50 and people with comorbidities.
The availability of ICU beds during the covid-19 contingency has been a key indicator of the most critical moments of the pandemic. The country, at the beginning of the emergency, had 5,346 beds for ICU care and at the times of greatest demand, it had up to 13,000 ICU beds.
“The current figures show that, despite the increase in infections in recent weeks, the country still has good availability of this key resource of the health system; however, we cannot lower our guard with strains like omicron circulating, ”explains Delgado.
Predominant in Colombia
The Minister of Health, Fernando Ruíz, spoke through his official Twitter account on January 5, 2022 to inform Colombians that the omicron variant of the coronavirus has already exceeded delta in the number of infections.
“As we had anticipated, as of January 2, more than 60% of the genomic map of covid-19 in Colombia is dominated by omicron. This implies adapting guidelines to the clinical characteristics of the variant ”, it reads in his social network.
As we had anticipated, as of January 2, more than 60% of the genomic map of COVID-19 in Colombia is dominated by omicron. This implies adapting guidelines to the clinical characteristics of the variant.@MinSaludCol @infopresidencia pic.twitter.com/JOJ7o6Si1u
– Fernando Ruiz (@Fruizgomez) January 6, 2022
This shows the great contagion capacity of omicron, which, in less than a month, became the country in which the most positive cases for covid registered, according to the tests carried out.
The National Institute of Health (INS) also reported that The departments where this variant circulates the most are Atlántico, Antioquia, Bolívar, Córdoba, Magdalena, Quindío, Valle del Cauca and, as an outstanding city, Bogotá.
On the other hand, The institution also confirmed that there are currently 162 lineages in the country, of which 79 correspond to the delta variant and two to the MU.