A SENIOR doctor believes the country should be devoting all of its resources to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic as cases rise and hospital resources remain critical.

Dr John Dillett, consultant psychiatrist, told The Tribune yesterday that as the nation is gripped by COVID-19, focusing on anything else could prove to be a “mistake”.

He was asked his views on election campaigning amid a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Within the last several days more than 200 new cases of COVID-19 have been recorded, with 100 of those being recorded on Saturday.

Thirty-eight new cases were recorded on Sunday, pushing the confirmed case count to 13,604.

As of Sunday, there were 81 cases in hospital, 12 of which were in the intensive care unit.

“This is my personal opinion. I would love for us to focus all of our resources on winning this war against the virus,” Dr Dillett said.

“I think life will return to normal and all of the things that we get excited and passionate about are still going to be there provided that everyone is safe and sound after we have won this fight.

“I think anything other than devoting our full attention to the pandemic could be a mistake and so I would call upon all persons who feel that way to speak up and say that our number one focus right now should be to saving lives and keeping people safe and ensuring that the healthcare system has all of the resources that it requires.

“That doesn’t mean that we can’t do more than one thing at once, of course, but we need to make sure that our primary focus, in my opinion, is on the pandemic.”

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