Cyprus Mail
Cyprus

Covid situation ‘stable’, discussion on potential measures next week (updated)

A health ministry advisor said on Tuesday that worry over China’s coronavirus cases surge was ‘excessive’, while measures are expected to be decided in a week to address the situation.

Decisions that will be taken on a national level during a meeting of the scientific team with the health minister next Tuesday will be in line with EU measures on the issue, Petros Karayiannis told the Cyprus News Agency.

“We are moving towards the collective measures to be taken by the European Union. It will probably be such measures that all European countries will implement,” the doctor said.

Some countries have already moved on to their own measures.

The United States, Australia and Britain have announced that travellers from China will be required to provide a negative Covid test pre-departure as of Thursday. Other nations have also proceeded with similar travel restrictions.

“I think we are close to what some countries have already taken,” the professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School said.

Most countries at the moment, he noted, require either a negative 72-hour PCR or a 48-hour rapid test pre-boarding and post-boarding, while others are also sampling passengers to check what variants are being detected.

Any decisions taken will be ratified at the cabinet meeting next Wednesday, a day after the meeting between the scientific team and health minister.

But so far, there is no particular cause for concern because the variant that is in China was detected in Cyprus months ago and it doesn’t seem to pose much of a problem, the professor said.

“Because it concerns Omicron variants I believe that perhaps it was somewhat excessive that there was such a fuss,” Karayiannis had earlier told CyBC.

The doctor explained that the variant detected in the US in recent weeks has doubled in the cases there from 20 to 40 per cent.

“Beyond that, the concern is if any new variant emerges because of the high transmission of the virus in China,” Karayiannis said, noting that the situation in Cyprus is ‘stable’.

“Under these circumstances, the numbers are manageable,” he said.

Regarding vaccinations, Karayiannis expressed concern that there are still low booster jab rates in the over 60s. “If immunity in the community drops to low enough levels, then the virus will find a way to circulate,” he said.

Health ministry data shows 86.1 per cent of the adult population is fully vaccinated while the rate for the entire population is 73.7 per cent.

The percentage of fully vaccinated people over 60 is 86.7 per cent, while those who received the fourth dose is 27.5 per cent and those aged 60 and older with the fifth is 5.5 per cent.

The data shows there has been a drop in daily vaccinations since the holidays with 350 people getting jabbed each day after December 21, compared with 600-700 people daily before that date.

Vaccination centres are open daily from 8.30am to 2.30pm, excluding the epiphany day.

According to state health services organisation (Okypy) spokesman Charalambos Charilalou, there are 91 patients currently being treated with coronavirus in state hospitals, of whom four are in intensive care. Most of them are over 70 and concern nursing home residents.

He noted the situation is manageable, despite increased patient flow due to an upsurge in viral and bacterial infections.

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