The landscape remains murky in terms of lifting restrictions imposed by the government to stem the pandemic. Five days before the long-awaited session of the Council of Ministers and everything is still fluid, with the Minister of Health Michalis Hadjipandelas throwing the ball to the epidemiologists. The possible relaxations will depend on the Advisory Scientific Committee, the minister said yesterday, who said that the situation with the number of cases and the reduction in hospitalizations is currently stabilizing, while the next few days are expected to bring better results. Although the members of the epidemiological team have not yet sent their suggestions, which are expected to be in the hands of the Minister of Health by Monday morning at the latest, discussions on the relaxation plan have begun, with the tracking team already proceeding. in a preliminary plan to lift the measures which may be implemented in the next period. The key to making any decision is once again the hospitalizations and especially the admissions to the ICU. Yesterday, for the second consecutive day, the hospital stay was below 200, with the experts thinking about lifting the strict restrictions until March.
Initially
According to information, the relaxation plan includes, among other things, categorization of places and activities according to their level of risk, while in some cases there is thought to replace restrictions with measures that, although giving citizens a sense of relaxation, but not to be aggravating in terms of the epidemiological picture of the country. In this logic, it is promoted that the relaxations concern the restaurants, but also the nightclubs. The idea is to lift the ban on the unvaccinated, who will be able to enter these areas by presenting a negative 24-hour rapid test certificate. This is a measure that has been put in the past and it is not ruled out that this time it will be passed by the epidemiological team, however, we must not forget that the first word has the Council of Ministers and it is not ruled out that there may be differentiation. According to information, the end of the separation of citizens into vaccinated and non-vaccinated may occur in early March, as the downward trend of hospitalizations and cases will continue. In the first phase, measures may be decided such as increasing the maximum number of people that can be gathered in houses from 10 to 15 and increasing the number of people per table in restaurants from 8 to 10. Variations are also expected in terms of the maximum number attending social events. Epidemiologists and the Minister of Health will analyze the roadmap for relaxations on Tuesday morning, while, if they finally reach its final form, the map will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval on the same day. A competent source told “P” that the goal of the Ministry of Health is the plan that will be presented to the Council of Ministers to be either monthly or two months long, with the ultimate goal of better planning of citizens, especially in cases of social events such as weddings and baptisms. At the same time, the extension of the test to stay program to other sectors should be taken for granted, and in the first phase to other parts of the public service. It is reminded that from today the program will start to be implemented in the National Guard on a voluntary basis.
27 deaths
Regarding the situation in the hospitals, it seems that the percentage of citizens who received the booster dose and needed to be treated has increased slightly in recent times, without, however, clarifying the details of their treatment, such as whether they had to be admitted to MAF or ICU or information on the time elapsed since the day of vaccination. According to the data available to the Ministry of Health, 23% of patients are people who received the supportive dose, while 55% are citizens who did not receive any dose of vaccine. 19% of patients are partially vaccinated, while only 3% are fully vaccinated. The attention of epidemiologists is mainly focused on the patients who do not have a history of vaccination, as they constitute 90% of the admissions to the ICU, but also 70-80% of the citizens who have died recently. The list of deaths due to the coronavirus is growing day by day, with the numbers causing concern. During the first 10 days of February, 27 deaths were recorded, including young people aged 40-58.
