Govt issues call for volunteer nurses

The Gibraltar Government has called for volunteers to train as nursing assistants in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Explaining the need for volunteer nursing assistants, the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Joseph Garcia said: “Things will get worse before they get better,” adding: When that time comes, our health service will need your help.”

The Government is therefore proposing a three-day training package for volunteers with the idea being to train people early and keep them in reserve.

“You will only be called upon if needed,” Dr Garcia said at the 4pm press briefing at No.6 Convent Place.

This comes as the number of confirmed cases of the virus in Gibraltar rose by 12 from 69 on Tuesday to 81 on Wednesday.

There are currently 47 active cases, only two of which are currently in hospital.

There is nobody with a confirmed case of Covid-19 in ICU at the moment.

A total of 770 swabs to test for Covid-19 have been taken so far. This represents around 2.4% of Gibraltar’s population.

Dr Garcia explained that a similar sample in the UK would require the testing of 1.2 million people, where the latest test data shows that they have tested 134,916 persons.
“Therefore, [the] number of tests in Gibraltar, 770, might sound low but in proportional terms it is actually high, when compared to the size of our population,” he added.

A further sample of 400 people are now being tested separately by invitation which will provide an indication of the prevalence of the virus in the community.

Underscoring the importance of the ‘stay at home’ message, Dr Garcia said the tests show that the number of cases locally continues to increase.

“Thankfully the uptrend is happening slowly at the moment,” he said.

“We have to keep it that way.”

“We need to ensure that hospital admissions do not spike. You can see what has happened in other countries.”

To volunteer as a nursing assistant please email: PSHR@gibraltar.gov.gi or telephone 20060359 or 20075595.