South Australia To Receive 500 Covid Dedicated Hospital Beds

The South Australian Government will be assigning around 500 extra beds to Covid dedicated wards as case numbers continue to grow.

This is an increase from the previous offer of 400 beds as the state battles the surge in Omicron cases.

The extra beds will allow Lyell McEwin Hospital and Flinders Medical Centre to set up dedicated Covid wards alongside the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

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The added beds will also allow the intensive care unit space for another 60 patients.

As Covid case numbers continue to increase state-wide, many public hospital patients will be transferred to private hospitals to make more room for other Covid patients.

According to Health Minister Stephen Wade, the state will need to “adapt” in order to cope with the highly contagious Omicron variant.

"Omicron has changed the game," he said.

"We've got lower severity cases but we've got higher transmissibility, so that means more cases more quickly, which means we need more beds."

The new beds are expected to increase capacity by 100 at all three medical hubs with Flinders Medical Centre able to treat 100 extra patients while still attending to babies and pregnant women.

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