Filenews 9 July 2022 - by Marilena Panayi
With an eye on the pandemic again, Europe. Several European countries, such as Portugal, Luxembourg, France, Greece, Cyprus, Germany and Austria, have recorded a deterioration in epidemiological indicators in the last two weeks.
In Italy the scene is reminiscent of March 2020, with doctors calling for an increase in beds and ventilators, in Germany the Federation of Hospitals (DKG) is concerned about the increasing number of staff absences in hospitals and clinics due to coronavirus diseases and quarantine, in Great Britain, as announced on Tuesday, almost one in ten beds had been allocated for a coronavirus patient, with scientists making an urgent appeal to renew vaccines and deal with mutations, while in France the authorities are reintroducing the use of masks in several, mainly tourist, areas, since the number of cases and hospitalizations has more than doubled. The rise in cases and hospitalizations is recorded only a week after the official warning of the World Health Organization for Europe. "As countries across Europe lifted social distancing measures, the virus will be circulating at high levels in the summer," said WHO Director for Europe Hans Kluge, adding that "the number of Covid-19 cases in the 50 countries of the WHO Europe zone approached 500,000 daily, while it was around 150,000 at the end of May."
In Cyprus, the positivity rate reached 13.42% last week, while the number of hospitalized patients with coronavirus rose on Friday to 97 with a relative increase in the number of seriously hospitalized (8 compared to 4 last week) and at the same time four more people died with the coronavirus as the cause of death. As of yesterday, following a decision of the Council of Ministers, the measure of mandatory use of a mask in all indoor spaces was reinstated, while the Minister of Health Michalis Hatzipantelas convened, after two months, a meeting for Wednesday with the members of the Advisory Scientific Committee. In fact, the minister, according to information from "F", called on the scientists to assess the situation and be ready so that, if necessary, they can submit their recommendations to him during the meeting.
"The pressure that exists at the moment in Cyprus and in general, is due to the fact that the strain that prevails in Cyprus lately is more infectious than the previous ones, while it creates a large number of infections," Professor of Molecular Virology Leontios Kostrikis said in his statements.
"Obviously some people who will be infected with the strain will end up in the hospital, but the important thing is that the people who are currently being treated are infected with Omicron variants," he noted and added: "There are five epidemiological waves in Cyprus and now we are at the beginning of the sixth. What people need to understand is that the epidemiological waves in Cyprus were not created due to winter or enclosed spaces, but due to the advent of strains that are more contagious than the previous ones. Of particular importance, he said, "is the fact that the virus comes in waves because this means that there are no stable infections of a few weeks. which in virology tells us that the virus is not endemic."
