There are fewer admissions in hospitals, fewer patients and even fewer patients in critical condition, something which gives the heath system a break, Member of the Advisory Committee at the Health Ministry and Professor at the university of Cyprus medical school, Dr. Irene Christaki told CNA.
She said that this is surely a precondition if the measures will be relaxed because the health system will have to be ready to accept new confirmed cases and some might be even more serious.
At the time being, she said, the situation is satisfactory. We see a daily reduction in the number of positive cases. Yesterday’s higher numbers she said, were reported because more tests had been carried out but did not exceed the number of confirmed cases in the last few days.
Christaki said there is no clear indication as to when the measures will be relaxed. “In my opinion, we should wait until after Easter. This will prove if we continue to adhere to the restrictive measures during Easter and there will not be an increase in confirmed cases in the next week or two”.
If there is no increase and the positive numbers keep falling, then there can be a discussion as to when we can start the first phase of relaxing the measures, she added.
Some countries, said Dr. Christaki, have different approaches on relaxing the measures but “we have to see what fits more to the Cypriot reality”. She further said the Scientific Advisory committee has not decided yet as to which measures should be relaxed first.
Regarding the confirmed cases in a Nicosia supermarket and a bakery production facility in Larnaca, Christaki said these areas have a big number of employees and for this reason these businesses should maintain stricter measures against the coronavirus.
Asked where Cyprus ranks worldwide, Christaki said that Cyprus is ranked among the countries which took measures quite fast and early and the epidemic is under control with small numbers of confirmed cases and also small number of deaths.
As for those who are asymptomatic, said Dr. Christaki, it seems that in Cyprus and internationally it is a significant percentage with numbers reaching up to 50% in some cases. “We do not yet know the exact contribution to the evolution of the virus. We know for sure that it is transmitted by the symptomatic, we know that there is transmission in the pre-symptomatic period and therefore the virus may be transmitted from the asymptomatic, ” she added.
Conducting a nationwide epidemiological investigation into a random sample of 800 people and conducting 20,000 laboratory tests on people who continue to work, said Christaki, will help us to assess even more accurately the spread of the infection in the Republic of Cyprus and give us important information so that we can make better decisions on the next steps.
(Cyprus News Agency)
