RIGA, Feb 1 (LETA) - Medical institutions saw a rise in the number of staff on leave after being infected with Covid-19, Minister of Health Daniels Pavluts (For Development) said during a government meeting today.

At the beginning of this week, there were 1,169 staff absentees due to Covid-19 in 40 inpatient facilities and their branches, compared to 893 a week ago, while 1,032 people have been infected with Covid-19 this week. One week ago, 768 medical staff were infected with Covid-19.

Pavluts added that period of illness with the Covid-19 omicron variant is not as long as before, so employees can return to work faster.

As reported, hospital heads are alarmed by the rise in the number of workers infected with Covid-19, resulting in a shortage of staff.

In an interview with Latvian Television last night, Rinalds Mucins, Chairman of the Board of Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS), admitted that there are currently about 200 employees infected with Covid-19, which is more worrying than the gradual increase in the number of Covid-19 patients.

Currently, the situation with employee infection rates is similar to December 2020, when 250 employees were ill with Covid-19. He admits that at some point, due to the illness of staff, one of the departments may be completely forced to shut down. In order for this not to happen, it is necessary to think about attracting reserve medics in time, the head of Stradins Hospital emphasized.

Grigorijs Semjonovs, a member of the board of Daugavpils Regional Hospital, also expressed concern about the increase in the incidence of Covid-19 among hospital staff. If at the beginning of January only 14-15 employees were infected, now about 65 employees have become ill. He explained that the employees do not fall ill in the hospital while performing their work duties, but at home, where the infection is brought to them by children, because there is a very high infection rate in schools and kindergartens in Daugavpils.

Semjonovs also emphasized that the hospital is already thinking about recruiting reserve doctors so as not to run out of medical staff who can help patients.