Filenews 3 April 2021
An unexpected event marked the detection of 705 new cases of coronavirus in Cyprus on Friday by the member of the Advisory Scientific Committee, Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Iology of the Medical School of the University of Nicosia Dr. Petros Karagiannis. At the same time, he noted that vaccination coverage should go ahead and there should be no hesitation about the AstraZeneca vaccine.
In a statement he said he did not know exactly where this event might be due and despite the increased number of tests, this increase is not explained proportionally either. On Friday, 705 new cases were identified after 59,144 disease detection tests.
Dr. Karagiannis pointed out that in training there were only 34 incidents, but there were a very high number of positive results through the tracing of contacts of already confirmed cases. As he said, almost a fifth of the samples from the tracings were positive. He expressed hope that this large increase would not be a permanent one, although he said there expected to be some increase with further easing. He also said he could not say how the situation would be shaped in the coming days.
Asked about the high rate found in the traces and whether there were some people who acted as superspreaders, Mr Karagiannis said he was aware that some who are positive are not self-restricting and circulating and recalled that the Ministry of Health issued a report recently.
"Unfortunately there are these people who don't understand the danger they pose to the whole country," he said, adding that it's hard to control the situation when he gets away.
With regard to the measures that may follow, Dr. Karagiannis said that the current relaxes will apply until the end of the month, although the Minister left a loophole that there would be some reassessment perhaps towards the end of the month.
"It will be done but it may not open the window for further easing," he said. He added that if the situation deteriorates significantly, of course there will be a reassessment and further restrictions.
He noted that we're not out of trouble yet, there's the mutant strain and he needs attention.
There should be no hesitation about the AstraZeneca vaccine
Regarding the course of vaccinations in Cyprus, he noted that the results are already visible in older people, since at the moment there is no problem in nursing homes and in the elderly who have been vaccinated. The deaths of elderly people recorded, he said, involve people who were not vaccinated.
"Vaccination coverage must therefore proceed. We think that 30 to 35% will act quite as a inhibitor, but what countries want to do is reach about 70% to have a very noticeable drop in the number of cases," he said.
Asked whether he thought that in Cyprus we are proceeding slowly with vaccinations, Mr Karagiannis said that we are proceeding according to the doses we have.
Regarding the scepticism surrounding the AstraZeneca vaccine, Mr Karagiannis said he did not understand why this confusion exists, especially from large countries.
"First they said they wouldn't vaccinate people over 65, now Germany, the Netherlands and Canada changed it and they said they wouldn't vaccinate those under 65. These are decisions that confuse people, they give the wrong message right now that we want people vaccinated," he said.
At the same time, he added, we know from England that 17.5 million people have been vaccinated. that there were only 30 people with serious side effects and none died. He added that if you took $17.5 million a year, you'd have to go back to work. from a non-vaccinated population there may have been the same number of cases due to nature and not to the vaccine. He added that even if such an incident occurs after vaccination it can be treated
He noted that people should not be hesitant about the AstraZeneca vaccine, on the contrary.
He referred to the case of diabetics who did not go to get vaccinated because they were listening to all these things and in the end of the 17,500 vaccines only 7,500 were made available to this vulnerable group. Now those who didn't get the vaccine will have to wait until their age group comes, he added, so they put themselves at risk until they decide whether to make the vaccine later.
He clarified that vaccines not received from this vulnerable group were immediately made available to 64-year-olds.
Source: CYPE
