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HEALTH

France confirms new SARS-like virus case

French health authorities said one person was suspected of contracting a deadly new SARS-like virus after coming into contact with a man confirmed to be infected, following tests that cleared another three patients.

Published: 11 May 2013 10:47 CEST
France confirms new SARS-like virus case
The hospital where a 65-year-old man has been diagnosed with deadly SARS-like virus. Photo: Denis Charlet/AFP

"Further examinations are necessary" to determine if the patient has come down with the deadly novel coronavirus, the health ministry said in a statement.

The patient shared a hospital room with a 65-year-old man who is in intensive care in northern France after being diagnosed with the virus that has killed 18 people, mostly in Saudi Arabia.

The regional health authority said the man, who was hospitalised after returning from a holiday in Dubai in April, was being treated in isolation in a "very serious but stable condition".

The virus, known as nCoV-EMC, is a cousin of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which triggered a scare 10 years ago when it erupted in east Asia, leaping to humans from animal hosts and killing some 800 people.

It was first detected in September 2012 and since then more than 30 cases have been reported in different countries, with 18 deaths.

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HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Published: 10 May 2023 15:09 CEST
Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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