Hospitals in Paris are scrambling to find more intensive care beds, ventilators and medical staff ahead of an expected spike in the number of coronavirus patients in coming days, with the figure expected to peak in April, doctors said on Friday, reports Reuters.
Coronavirus cases in Paris and its suburbs now account for about a quarter of the 11,000 cases across France. The death toll in all France as of Friday evening stood at 450.
“We are working at full speed to ramp up the number of intensive care beds,” Antoine Vieillard-Baron, head of the surgical and medical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University Hospital Ambroise Paré, told a conference call with reporters.
“The peak of the epidemic is expected at the start of April, but it’s not precise and we are expecting a flood of sick people this weekend and next week,” he said.
“We are in an exceptional situation where the organization of our hospitals is totally disrupted. We know this war will last several weeks, if not more,” said Remi Salomon, doctor and representative of the Paris public health system.
The officials said they were looking to double Paris’ intensive care capacity to about 1,000 beds by this weekend, including 600 for coronavirus patients.
The Paris hospital system has ordered an extra 186 ventilators to add to the about 1,000-1,400 it already has available.