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A Belfast hospital is ready to contend with a potential second surge of the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official said.<\/p>\nA Belfast hospital is ready to contend with a potential second surge of the coronavirus pandemic, a senior official said.<\/p>\n
The Mater Hospital is currently caring for a number of patients as they recover from Covid-19, a process that can take weeks to months.<\/p>\n
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There have been 4,469 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Northern Ireland so far, with numbers of patients in hospitals now dropping at the end of the first surge.<\/p>\n
According to the North’s Department of Health figures on Saturday, there have been 505 deaths of patients with Covid-19.<\/p>\n
As lockdown measures begin to be relaxed, Liz McAlea, interim co-director of unscheduled care at the Belfast Trust, said officials are prepared for a second surge if it comes.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that everything has calmed down quite a bit as in numbers wise, we are still in preparedness for a second wave if another surge was to come,\u201d she told the PA news agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we have turned some of our wards into non-Covid wards, within the Mater we\u2019re still prepared in case there is a second surge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we did really well, we had up to 105 patients with Covid-19 within the Mater Hospital, with 16 ventilated, and coped very well.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose numbers have gone down but we\u2019re reassured that we\u2019re prepared and the Nightingale is ready to step up again.\u201d<\/p>\n