The increase in the number of cases, which last Monday exceeded 3,300, was overturned by the government's plans for the gradual lifting of the restrictions, with epidemiologists having second thoughts. Based on current epidemiological data, it is not clear when the measures will be lifted, with experts and the Ministry of Health drawing up an action plan as soon as conditions allow, for better organization. At present only unvaccinated minors are expected to benefit from the new measures that will emerge from today's meeting of the Council of Ministers.
At the Ministry
Among the proposals that seem to have been “locked in” and will be brought before the Council of Ministers is the time period required to receive the support installment to be reduced from five and a half to five months. At the same time, there is a suggestion that the staff working in nursing homes and has a history of vaccination present a negative result of a rapid test lasting 72 hours, while for the unvaccinated the rapid test should last 24 hours. The only relaxation that will be submitted to the current Council of Ministers, concerns the vaccinated children from 12-17 years old, who will be able to enter places where a vaccination certificate is required, with the necessary condition of presenting a negative rapid test of 72 hours. This is an idea that was mentioned by the Minister of Health last week and which is not expected to worsen the epidemiological picture of the country. Initially, there was a suggestion to submit a negative rapid test 24 instead of 72 hours, however, as a competent source told “P”, such a thing would be difficult to implement and would complicate the measures even more. The final decisions will be taken by the Council of Ministers, however information states that yesterday an indicative list of relaxations was drawn up, which will be reviewed next week, if and when there is a reduction in cases and mainly in ICU admissions. Among the relaxations under discussion are the increase of people gathered in houses from 10 to 15, and in restaurants from 8 to 10 per table, allowing dancing in leisure centers but also the increase of people in social events such as weddings and baptisms . For the time being, it seems that the possibility of promoting relaxations related to citizens who do not have a history of vaccination has been ruled out, with experts considering that under the circumstances it is not possible to do so. As the member of the epidemiological team Dr. Petros Karagiannis stated yesterday, who in the previous meeting with the Minister of Health had proposed to allow the entrance to restaurants to be vaccinated, stressed yesterday that after the rise of cases such a thing is not possible. At the same time, he noted that the number of hospitalizations may be reduced, but they have not yet reached a point where the restrictions can be relaxed.
Except for the teachers
During yesterday's meeting of epidemiologists with the Minister of Health, emphasis was placed on the analysis of the first results from the implementation of the test to stay in schools. Following the downturn at school sampling points, crews will offer rapid tests to almost all schools to address the problems with the test to stay measure, as announced by the Ministers of Education and Health on Monday after the wide-ranging meeting, which was attended by educational organizations and parent confederations. As announced, there are thoughts for extending the measure to high schools. Epidemiologists have already approved the extension of the measure to other areas, such as hospitals, Police and Fire Department, while yesterday the possibility of extending the measure was even discussed, with the majority of experts in favor. According to “P”, the goal is first to implement the measure in hospitals, then in the Police, Fire Brigade and then in the army, while at the moment the implementation of the measure in teachers does not seem to be gaining ground, with the trade unions reacting.
In four digits
According to Dr. Karagiannis, the second thoughts regarding the implementation of relaxations arise due to the fact that while two weeks ago an average of about 2,200 new cases were detected on a daily basis, last week they rose to 2,500, with the increase to continues and we end up with 3,396 new cases last Monday. According to the data available to the epidemiological surveillance unit, the greatest burden is observed in the age group 6-11 years, as from January 22 to 28 of the same month were recorded more than 2,000 cases of coronavirus. For the first time a four-digit number is recorded in the age group 0-5 years. From the 22nd to the 28th of January 2022, the rate of positivity in the community ranged between 2.3% -2.7% while a large number of re-infections were recorded again and specifically 1,548 cases. The imported cases during the same period amounted to 578 with most being recorded in arrivals from Greece and Russia.
Ομικρον 2
The Omicron 2 sub-variant in Cyprus was identified in three samples in the previous days. Specifically, in recent weeks, 627 cases with the Omicron variant in Cyprus had been confirmed by sequencing. On January 28, 2022, another 159 (83%) cases with the Omicron variant were identified from a total of 192 positive samples. As for the Omicron 2 sub-variant, it has been found in Cyprus and earlier in a sample of a traveler from India who was quarantined upon arrival. Since then, this sub-variation is detected today for the first time at a rate of 2.4%. This sub-variant has prevailed in Denmark, which indicates that it may be more contagious than Omicron, but there is no indication that it causes a more serious disease. According to the Ministry of Health, none of the above people were hospitalized, however, as Dr. Karagiannis stated, deaths of people infected with the Omicron variant were also recorded in Cyprus, noting that they were people without a history of vaccination. Dr. Karagiannis also noted that although the symptoms of Omicron are milder, but this concerns the vaccinated.
