Patients urged to contact GPs over flu, not go to A&E

The state health services Okypy on Saturday appealed to patients to avoid visiting A&E departments if they think they have flu, emphasising the unit is exclusively for cases that are life-threatening or emergencies.

“Patients need to stop appearing at A&E with flu symptoms immediately,” it said.

Okypy said that flu tests are available in pharmacies and in the event of feeling unwell with symptoms, medical advice should be sought from a general practitioner.

It reiterated that the A&E units must prioritise emergencies and had to focus on cases where a patient’s life is at risk.

The health ministry on Wednesday said that the number of patients with influenza, Covid-19, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) was on a downward trend.

The ministry’s deputy permanent secretary Elisavet Constantinou said that a total of 32 people had died of the three diseases during the current winter season, with the annual peak of infections reached immediately after the Christmas holidays.

She said numbers had declined during the past days, as the amount of people hospitalised was “somewhat lower compared to the previous week”.

Constantinou, however, added that infection numbers may rise again at the beginning of next month, suggesting that people belonging to vulnerable groups and the elderly get vaccinated if they have not already.

She emphasised the spring wave of flu and Covid-19 cases is “usually milder than the first”.

During a visit to Nicosia general hospital, Health Minister Neophytos Charalambides said last week the situation at hospitals across the island was “manageable” as winter drew to a close.

He asserted that no additional measures were currently required to ensure the healthcare system was fully operational but added that the increased number of admissions to accident and emergency units in recent weeks was a “perennial challenge [occurring] every winter season”.

Charalambides said that the number of infections currently remained “approximately at the same levels as last year” and “possibly slightly lower.”