Filenews 7 February 2022
The issue of relaxations will depend on the epidemiological picture, said the member of the Advisory Scientific Committee (SES), Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology of the Medical School of the University of Nicosia, Dr. Petros Karagiannis, noting that at the moment although a stabilization is presented, it is not below 2 thousand cases but around 3 thousand.
So, he added, we need to see how we move in the next few days to start talking about relaxations again.
Asked to comment that countries have lifted the restrictions, he said that they are countries that have high vaccination coverage and also have health systems that have more capacity than us in terms of the number of their beds either for hospitalizations or for Intensive Care Units.
"I find it a bit risky in the Winter in the midst of an exacerbation to proceed with such relaxations. It seems that they have made their calculations that even if the numbers of hospitalizations increase, they will cope," he added.
Asked if a meeting of the ESG with the Ministry of Health will be held on Tuesday, Dr Karagiannis said that no invitations have been made since the Minister of Health is sick with coronavirus.
Omikron has hospitalizations
Dr Karagiannis said that in the Intensive Care Units they are mainly elderly, unvaccinated with the average age being around 70 years.
The Professor mentioned that Omikron also has hospitalizations. "We said from the beginning that although we saw fewer intense symptoms in those who were sick and vaccinated. So the disease was milder," he said.
"With the widespread transmission we have identified that Omikron also causes, especially in unvaccinated severe symptoms, and although they are also elderly with underlying diseases, the likelihood of them being hospitalized is still increasing and some unfortunately do not make it even with Omikron," he added.
Remarking that epidemiologists were talking about a drop in the number of cases two or three weeks ago, he noted that "we were calculating the situation, following the propensity that things took in South Africa. Our difference is that South Africa is in Summer months, we are in Winter. On the other hand, while you're in the Winter months and you're also indoors, you see more of the vaccinated people getting infected with Omikron, especially if they only received the two doses."
"Even of those who took the three doses, some can get sick. This was evident from studies in England where there have been cases where people have been ill from three to five times and even with Omikron twice," he pointed out.
So, he continued, it seems that Omikron escapes immunity if you haven't made a sufficient immune response. "We also have the sub-variant of Omikron BA2, which some studies show escapes immunity a little more than Omikron because where the probability in Omikron fell to the disease to 70%, with the sub-variation it is around 50%," he explained.
Therefore, he said, that is why caution is needed, and that is why I do not agree at the moment with the excessive relaxations in northern Europe with the simple recommendation to wear masks.
Difficult to predict the course of the present wave
Dr Karagiannis said that it is difficult to predict the course that the present wave could take. "Where in the previous waves we were seeing a continuous decline, the present wave showed at least three ups and downs - it fell to a level, then we went out a little further and in the last week we went even further up. I hope this week will be indicative of where we will go either a little up or down," he noted.
When asked if we will have a problem by the Summer, the Professor said that "the virus is here to stay. The question is what flare-ups will cause us. If a new strain does not emerge, I think summer will be more comfortable than last year. On the other hand, if something else comes up, I hope with the vaccination coverage we have, things will be looser."
CNA
