Filenews 12 November 2021 - by Marilena Panagi
With epidemiological indicators going up and the State Health Services Agency sounding an alarm, officially stating that public hospitals are already approaching 100% of their occupancy as they record an increase in admissions of coronavirus patients, as well as patients with other seasonal infections and viruses, the scene between the Ministry of Health and scientists was explosive yesterday morning.
Other members of the Advisory Scientific Committee, in addition to the head Konstantinos Tsioutis and the Ministry's advisor on vaccine issues Christos Petrou, publicly expressed their dissatisfaction with the way in which Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas is cooperating with scientists, while the light of publicity had also seen information about possible resignations.
The picture, however, was overturned before noon when it became known that the Minister of Health invited the IPC for a meeting next Monday, while as we are informed behind the scenes, other moves were made by the Minister, who apparently made an effort to defuse the crisis that began to erupt amid the outbreak of the pandemic.
Officially, the invitation sent to the members of the TEU for the meeting that will take place on Monday afternoon, said that the epidemiological data, as they have been formed over the last ten days, will be discussed and evaluated.
According to information provided by "F", despite the fact that the next steps will be discussed during Monday's meeting, the possibility of drawing up a specific action plan is under consideration, which will define "red lines" in all epidemiological indicators and will give scientists and the Government indications on when measures and restrictions will be imposed, but also the places where the measures and restrictions to be decided upon must be applied.
Furthermore, it is not excluded that the majority decision of the National Committee for Vaccinations for the administration of a third dose of the vaccine against the coronavirus to the entire adult population will also be raised, since some of the members of the TEU have publicly taken a negative position on this issue.
Of course, according to information provided by "F", the relevant proposal has already been prepared by the Ministry of Health and yesterday it was submitted to the Secretariat of the Council of Ministers with the aim of being discussed at the meeting to be held on Monday morning, although the Minister of Health Michalis Hadjipantelas does not seem to have yet taken his final decision as the arguments of those who disagree, he seems to be troubled.
According to the proposal submitted to the Ministry, the Minister of Health will recommend that "for the vaccination against COVID-19, the third strengthening dose of the mRNA vaccine is administered to all people 18 years of age and older and provided that six months have elapsed since their vaccination with the second dose of the vaccine and regardless of antibody level".
The proposal certainly does not specify the starting date for booster vaccination in all adults, which does not seem to be at all irrelevant to the fact that for those below the age of 40, the six months from the second dose will be completed for older people at the end of December. This is also one of the arguments of those who disagree and stress that there is currently no reason to rush to take such a decision.
Data show deterioration
However, the fact that the number of daily cases exceeds 200-250 daily, as well as the predictions of the CySEC for an imminent increase in the number of hospitalized patients with coronavirus, seems to have alarmed the scientists, many of whom expressed their concern yesterday and publicly.
Based on the latest epidemiological data given to the ministry of health and the members of the TEU, the communicability index has exceeded since last week 1:1 (that is, a person with coronavirus transmits to yet another person), which is considered as the safety limit to be 1:1.1 - 1:1,2.
At the same time, the positivity rate, i.e. the number of cases detected depending on the number of tests carried out, shows a gradual increase in the last three weeks and has risen from 0.3% to 0.5%, while in molecular tests it exceeds the 1% that is considered as a safety limit.
The updated data confirm the estimates of the CySEC, since the increase of severely ill patients with coronavirus who are hospitalized in Increased Care Units is evident in the relevant indicators.
Specifically, while by October 31, an average of 10 beds per day were occupied, last week the number of beds occupied exceeded 16 and as can be seen from the daily results, this week shows a further increase.
The situation in the Intensive Care Units seems to have been stable over the past two weeks, with the number of intubated patients being at very low levels. However, based on the estimates of the CySEC, the increase in the number of patients hospitalized in the ICU will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of patients who will need hospitalization in ICU in the coming days.
Chains of transmission began to appear
The creation of chains of transmission of the coronavirus in specific places and activities is confirmed by the data of the tracing unit.
Increased transmission is detected in workplaces, in wedding and christening receptions, but also in school units of both primary and secondary education.
According to the data, increased cases were detected in factories and service companies (offices), in a hotel unit, but also in several cases of mass gatherings such as wedding receptions.
As far as school units are concerned, last week was marked with a large chain in a school of a particular community, while the daily announcements of the Ministry of Health include cases of coronavirus in schools on a nationwide scale.
