Filenews 4 May 2021
The results from the Easter holidays, i.e. whether we have complied with the restrictive and sanitary measures, will be shown in a day or two in the cases that will occur, said the member of the Advisory Scientific Committee (SEE), Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Iology of the Medical School of the University of Nicosia Dr. Petros Karagiannis.
He noted that today we will have a more representative sample to determine where we are.
'The situation is a bit difficult to identify because of Easter; not enough tests have been done, so we don't have a clear picture of where the epidemiological curve is going. What I see is a stabilisation because the positivity rate regardless of how many tests are done daily is around 1.3-1.4%, which remains unchanged. Before Easter there was a drop in the number of cases but with a wide variation from 900 cases to 600," he said.
Asked if the lockdown would continue, Dr Karagiannis said it was too soon to say and that this was a Cabinet decision in case our epidemiological picture is worrying.
Asked if the EES would have meetings with the President of the Republic, he noted that so far there is nothing on the agenda.
He said, however, that this evening there will be the usual teleconference between the members of the Scientific Committee on how the picture of the outbreaks is shaped.
Asked if further measures would be needed, he said no further measures would be needed at the moment. "We need to see how our epidemiological picture will be shaped in a couple of days after the return to the rhythms and numbers of tests that were done before Easter."
Asked to comment on the statements of The Minister of Health Konstantinos Ioannou that by the end of June we will achieve herd immunity, he said that by June, 60-65% of the population will have taken at least the first dose of vaccine. "This is the percentage that has been achieved in the UK and Israel, which, as we know, has allowed these countries to return to a kind of normality, which a couple of months ago was impossible. That means that we, too, with good weather, etc. we will reduce the number of cases significantly and slowly we will return to the normality that we knew before," he said.
Asked if vaccinated people would need to wear a mask, the Professor said this would depend on the transmission of the virus to the community. "If we drop rates to low levels then it will be possible. So we need to make sure that the virus is not widely circulating in the community because there is a chance that the vaccinated people will also get sick. They can potentially act as carriers of the virus so caution is needed until we reach this 65-70% immunity level in the general population," he added.
Source: KYPE
