“In March 2020, we admitted the first patients suffering from COVID-19 to our dedicated intensive care unit,” said Professor Christoph Josten, Medical Director at Leipzig University Hospital. They were two men from Italy, which at the time had been hit hard by the first wave of infection. One died after a few days, while the second recovered and was discharged in May. “The patient from Italy was one of the first to die from COVID-19 in Leipzig and at UKL,” said Josten. “And the same fate awaited many more patients: he died away from his loved ones, surrounded by University Hospital staff.”
Some 222 people have died of COVID-19 at Leipzig University Hospital since March 2020. “This is a very high number,” said Josten. “Never before have we lost so many people to a disease in such a short period of time.”
Above all, this means 222 lives were extinguished, many too soon. 222 families who have lost someone. Many were unable to say goodbye, separated as they were by quarantines and bans on visiting patients. “This situation weighs heavily on everyone, including our employees who face the task of fighting a pandemic every day,” said Josten. “We’re very hopeful that soon we’ll be able to effectively reduce infections so we no longer keep losing so many people to the virus.”
The event in St. Nicholas’ Church will be broadcast live from 5pm on www.leipzig.de and www.Kirche-Leipzig.de. The live stream is available here.