The epidemiological picture in Cyprus is improving, while a further reduction of cases will begin to be seen from next week after the performance of the restrictive measures of the lockdown, estimates the member of the Advisory Scientific Committee, Professor of Microbiology / Molecular Virology of Lefk University Medical School. Dr. Petros Karagiannis.
In his statements to KYPE, Dr. Karagiannis stated that the epidemiological picture shows an improvement but yesterday the number of positive cases rose again as more tests were performed.
“I hope it starts to fall again but with 158 cases you realize that the government has done well to proceed a little more cautiously in the relaxations so that we can be sure that the numerous sampling points which, as he announced, will increase significantly to monitor the return their work not only on the first day but also weekly on a percentage of each business. “Therefore, delaying a week to open more the economy, I think it is for the better,” he noted.
Asked if the lockdown restrictive measures have worked, he answered in the affirmative. “Of course, the restrictive measures we had in December and during the festive season paid off significantly. We dropped from 900 to around 250 cases. “With the start of the toughest lockdown measures we have dropped to 120. We are now between 120 and 158 cases and we will start to see a further drop maybe next week,” he said.
He clarified that next week marks three weeks since the strictest lockdown. He explained that the previous measures took almost five weeks to see a significant drop.
The right move for supervision in the workplace, to be extended to high school children
Dr. Karagiannis characterized as correct the move for surveillance of employees. “I think if we do not want things to get out of hand we have to monitor the situation in the workplace to avoid the problem we had at Christmas. “The problem then started in the workplace and suddenly spread to the family environment, where there was a tremendous increase in the number of cases,” he noted.
Asked if the measure should be applied to the children of the High School, he said “definitely because they are the children who move more actively than the other levels of education. “If we do not want the virus to re-enter schools, we must be careful with daily monitoring of what is happening there.”
The path to double-digit case numbers may take time
Professor Karagiannis stressed that the reduction in the number of cases will begin to be seen from next week, but the path to double-digit numbers may take longer.
As for the pressure on the health system, he said that the imports have decreased but the hospitalizations in the intensive treatments still remain at the same levels. “This is because apart from the fact that it takes a fortnight until we see the most serious hospital admissions since the incident was detected, the people who enter the intensive care units stay for more days than in other cases and these units are under pressure when we have a high number of cases “, he added.
Asked about the reactions from organized groups to the measures, he suggested that what we all need to understand is that the economy cannot be opened at the same time because if we do that it will be catastrophic and we will return to the previous situation within three four weeks.
“Which is more interesting? Should we proceed carefully with small steps or should we make sharp movements and let it rain if it rains? Greece tried it by opening some of the stores, etc. And at the moment it is facing an increase in the number of cases again. Cases have quadrupled in the last two weeks. “Israel, despite its high vaccination coverage, is currently experiencing an increase in incidents among primary school children because the mutated strain has entered the community from Britain and they are facing a terrible problem even with the high vaccination coverage they have in contrast to us.” he said.
Therefore, he concluded, if we do not want to deal with a situation that is not under control, we must proceed with prudence and caution.
Difficult months are February and March
All European countries, said Dr. Karagiannis, expect that February and March will be difficult months in terms of being very cold and we will inevitably be indoors and this is of particular concern.
“We believe that if we are careful, and as I said before, we move forward with small steps but constantly monitoring the situation, we may manage not to have a setback and our help in this will be the weather. “The biggest help will be the wider vaccination coverage and at the same time the monitoring of the airports in order to avoid the re-introduction of any mutated strain”, he pointed out.
Uncertain future for tourism
Asked how he sees things with tourism in the Summer, he said there is uncertainty. “It simply came to our notice then. Many European countries are concerned that they will not have the vaccination coverage needed to limit the spread of the virus. On the other hand, they have not yet decided whether the ethers will open, how the tourist will move around, that is, whether he will have to bring a vaccination passport or a test or both in some cases. “There is a sense of uncertainty,” he added.
The vaccination program is proceeding normally
Dr. Karagiannis said that the vaccination program in Cyprus is proceeding normally. “People have responded to the vaccination call and especially our elderly. From what we see this week, the vaccines that were offered to the 90-year-olds were not requested and the Gate was closed from the first day, it was extended to the 80-year-olds and above and again the available doses were not covered. So we move slowly down. “At least to protect the most vulnerable in the community.”
He also said that another company has produced a vaccine in Britain that seems to be dealing with the mutated strains as well. “Of course the company announced its results in phase 3 where the vaccines successfully treated the mutated virus, offering an efficiency of around 89% which is quite high,” he added.
