Filenews 21 January 2022
It is premature to talk about the end of the pandemic in the Spring, said the member of the Advisory Scientific Committee, Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology of the Medical School of the University of Nicosia, Dr. Petros Karagiannis, noting that there may be an outbreak of Delta, which is in the community.
When asked if we are heading towards the end of the pandemic, the Professor said that many believe that due to the mildness of Omikron's disease, we can enter the endemic phase of the coronavirus.
"I think this is too premature to say it with certainty because we have forgotten a couple of things about the coronavirus," he said.
"Firstly, the fact that it is mutating and so far it has presented us with at least five variations of which the last two, Delta and Omikron, have been troubling us especially lately and the second is the possibility that nothing new will emerge but simply while at the moment we are seeing a downward spiral of the wave of Omikron, the Delta variant is still in the community and we may see a new outbreak of it," he added.
He noted that these are imponderable factors, which can play a role in the future. He pointed out that we must continue to be vigilant, to continue with some measures, which are those of personal safety until we are completely sure.
Endemic phase of the coronavirus
Asked what to expect in the endemic phase of the coronavirus, Dr. Karagiannis said that it depends on which strain will be the one that will be released at the time. "If it's Omikron, we say it's less morbid, but it's still dangerous to people who belong to vulnerable groups, to very old people, to immunosuppressed people," he noted. "In the latter, even with three doses of vaccine, their antibody levels continue to be low, which is why there is a lot of talk at the moment about whether these people should get a fourth dose," he said.
On the other hand, to have something endemic, he continued, means that immunity in the community will be such that it will allow circulation at given times when this immunity will fall.
"Unfortunately with coronaviruses immunity is not long-lasting, it is not forever, in some people it falls. From our experience with this virus, which is only two years old and due to vaccines, there are high rates of immunity in the community, but we do not know how this immunity will evolve, that is, whether, when in times when immunity falls, the coronavirus will occur again and problems will be created. These are things that no one can predict at the moment," he clarified.
Asked if the mask will continue to be necessary in our lives, he said it is a question that we will be able to answer more safely in two or three months.
The administration of a fourth dose of vaccine was discussed
Dr Karagiannis said that the administration of a fourth dose of vaccine was discussed "in an effort to stem further infections in our nursing homes mainly where in recent times we have had several chains of cases and still have".
"But looking at the data from Israel and how the virus is behaving in our country, we see that our elders are relatively mildly ill with the disease once vaccinated and so far I do not know that anyone has needed hospitalization. So we have adopted the position, to wait and see how things develop and to take a decision accordingly. For the general population at the moment we do not consider this necessary," he added.
Decrease in cases and hospitalizations in the coming days
The Professor mentioned that we will have a reduction in cases and hospitalizations in the coming days. "This is what we hope will happen, even though in the last three or four days it has been around 2,200 cases a day and is not starting to fall," he noted.
Asked to comment that we had record deaths on Wednesday, he said it was not deaths that occurred in a day. "There were three deaths yesterday. It was just a reassessment of some deaths that occurred from January 1st, based on death certificates," he added.
CNA
