The government of São Paulo announced, on the afternoon of this Wednesday (26), the opening of 700 exclusive beds for Covid-19 in the state until February 6th.
There will be 266 ICU beds and 434 infirmary, in state hospitals in all regions.
According to Governor João Doria, the focus is on infirmary beds, as vaccination has helped to prevent the development of serious cases of Covid.
In the Greater SP region, there will be 234 wards and 91 places for intensive care beds.
Jean Gorinchteyn, state secretary of health, said there could also be help in funding new beds for municipalities that open vacancies.
The secretary said that, in the last 14 days, there was a 98% increase in hospitalizations. In the last three weeks, this index has grown by 152%.
The occupancy rate of ICU beds in the state is 68.67%, and in Greater São Paulo, 73.42%.
There are 7,324 people hospitalized in wards and 3,633 in intensive care.
Paulo Menezes, coordinator of the Scientific Committee of São Paulo, said that the assessment is that, at the moment, there is no need for new restrictive measures, but rather for the expansion of beds for Covid.
According to USP and Unesp, the capital of São Paulo reached the highest level of transmission of the coronavirus since the beginning of the pandemic: 1.79. This means that 100 infected people can transmit the virus to another 179.
Even so, Menezes stated that there are already signs that the rate of increase in hospitalizations is decreasing, which shows that, possibly, the peak of Ômicron transmission in the state may be reached in the coming weeks.
Eduardo Ribeiro, executive secretary of the São Paulo Health Department, said that a letter was sent to the Ministry of Health for the activation of new beds.
*with information from Carolina Figueiredo, from CNN
Reference: CNN Brasil
