Breach of protocols causes high hospital occupancy, according to the Minister of Health

Rivera assures that “if more restrictive measures have to be taken in relation to schedules, they will be taken.”

Santo Domingo, DR

The Minister of Public Health, Daniel Rivera, denied that the high hospital occupancy is due to the circulation of the Brazilian and British variants in the country.

Rivera attributed the high hospital demand to the fact that part of the citizenry is reluctant to comply with the protocols.

“People were not vaccinated; Dr. José Joaquín Puello told the press that 97% of those in Intensive Care had not been vaccinated, and that is the key,” said Rivera.

He also said that the variants produce more contagions but that those immunized are not affected by such aggressiveness.

“Those who are vaccinated, the aggressiveness decreases enormously up to more than 40%,” he added.

The Health Minister also pointed out that, to respond to the hospital demand in Greater Santo Domingo and alleviate the outbreak of Covid-19 that has been going on for several weeks, new personnel was hired this Monday.

In this sense, he said that even doctors from the country’s interior would join the fight waged by the medical centers of the capital.

Rivera reiterated that the measures suggested to the population continue to be the use of masks, avoiding crowds, and vaccination.

However, he assured that “if more restrictive measures have to be taken in relation to schedules (referring to the curfew), they will be taken.”

The minister made these declarations while participating in a press conference at the National Institute of Technical Professional Formation (Infotep). This institution made ten of its 56 mobile workshops available this week for the vaccination process developed by the government.