WITHIN the past 24 hours, the occupancy level at the parallel healthcare system has moved from 72 per cent to 66 per cent.

Principal medical officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said this is because 93 more beds were added.

She was speaking at the Health Ministry’s virtual press conference on Wednesday morning.

She said a Tacarigua step-down facility was added, which currently has 38 beds. The Debe step-down facility now has 90 beds – it previously had 50 – and the new Point Fortin Hospital now has 75 ward-level beds – as opposed to 60 before.

There is now a total of 891 beds in the parallel healthcare system, she said, adding, “I’d like to reiterate to members of the population that the bed status is dynamic. It is based on a supply-demand equation.”

She said as new beds are being added, they are being filled just as quickly.

The Intensive Care Unit (ICU), she said, is now at 80 per cent occupancy.