The European recommendations that will be in the hands of the Minister of Health, Michalis Hadjipantela, will be examined by the members of the Advisory Scientific Committee of the Ministry, during the extraordinary meeting that will take place on Monday afternoon, in order to decide on possible restrictions after the global concern caused by the new outbreak of coronavirus cases in China.
Cyprus, as well as all the member states of the European Union, have been put on alert, since the new data have jeopardized the good epidemiological picture presented by most countries, as a result of which there are fears of a retreat after two years of pandemic . However, already European countries such as France, Spain, Italy and other countries (USA, Japan, Taiwan) have imposed travel restrictions requiring a negative test or vaccination card from people arriving from China.
Cyprus is also expected to move in this direction, since the EU's recommendations so far concern measures at airports to protect the borders, while it is expected that in the next period more emphasis will be placed on the identification of samples in order to establish whether a new subvariation has prevailed .
Good surveillance will give experts a complete picture of the epidemiological data, while as he mentioned speaking to REPORTER Professor Petros Karagiannis, Cyprus does not need to take any other measures, beyond those that have already been decided by a small number of countries in Europe, namely the health control of their borders with the demonstration of a negative test. “With decisions such as frequent epidemiological surveillance, i.e. the identification of samples and the control of travelers from China, I believe that our country will prevent any outbreak of cases”.
Of course, as Mr. Karagiannis said, this will be a positive scenario, since countries such as Italy have already proceeded to identify samples of tourists arriving from China and during the controls a sub-variant of Omicron 5 was detected. On the other hand, in the United States In the United States, a new subvariant of Omicron, XBB.1.5, which was found only in the Far East -mainly Indonesia-, has dominated and accounts for almost 40% of new cases in the US. “So we're finding that there are waves of different sub-variants of Omicron in different countries. Also, Great Britain shows an increase in cases due to the winter months, not only of the corona virus but also of influenza A. We can expect to see something similar in the next period, if we continue to have these weather conditions”.
Mr. Karagiannis appeared uncertain about whether the picture presented by other countries will greatly affect Cyprus, due to the good epidemiological picture shown by the data in the last two months, however he emphasizes that this will depend on the empathy shown by the citizens , but also the readiness for proper organization in the public hospitals of our country in case of an outbreak of cases.
As he explained, “people are tired because of the previous multi-month restrictions and prefer to ignore any prompts. So it depends on each individual whether we will continue to show this good epidemiological picture. Equally important is the level of preparedness in the hospitals, which of course they are demonstrating now due to the infections that are on the rise at the moment. To what extent the health system is prepared for a new wave, is something that will probably be established in the next period. The beds can be increased, for example, if there is a need as it was done in the past”.
The final decisions to prevent an outbreak of cases from a new strain of covid-19, which will be taken during the emergency session of experts with Mr. Hadzipantela, they will be based on the common line that the European Union will keep, therefore whatever and if they are, the competent bodies should be prepared for all scenarios.
- The Minister was informed about the situation in China. Health-Actions are decided with the EU
- Concern in the West with the outbreak of the pandemic in China-The EU is taking measures
