In the intensive care unit (ICU), 34.5 percent of seriously ill patients died. The omicron wave drove up the number of infections significantly at the beginning of the year – but at the same time mortality in the hospitals fell significantly.
According to the latest figures from Gesund Österreich GmbH (GÖG), the mortality rate among hospitalized Covid patients fell to 8.6 percent between the beginning of January and the end of March. In the intensive care units, the mortality rate was 25.4 percent, which means that every fourth case was fatal. Interesting detail: Almost half of all deaths related to Covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic – exactly 47 percent – have affected people who were only cared for in normal wards. The ICU area accounted for 25 percent, 28 percent died outside of state fund-financed hospitals.
Since the outbreak of the pandemic, three percent of all people in Austria who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 have been treated in a hospital. 0.49 percent needed an intensive care bed, with the proportion of men at 0.64 percent being significantly higher than that of women (0.35 percent). The average length of stay in intensive care units was 13.1 days. Since the dominance of the omicron variant, it has declined noticeably. On average, a hospital admission related to Covid-19 from January to February 2022 resulted in an eight-day hospital stay.
Source: Nachrichten
