The situation with the continuous rise in covid cases in Cyprus is alarming and if we are not cautious the numbers will reach a thousand cases, Professor Petros Karayiannis has said.
In statements to Cyprus News Agency, Professor Karayiannis who is a member of the scientific advisory committee on the pandemic said that in order to avoid the worst case scenario, citizens and especially younger ages need to get vaccinated.
He pointed out that despite the advice by the scientists and all the urgent calls to be careful and follow the measures, we behave as if the pandemic is over. Professor Karayiannis said that the majority of the cases are people younger than 40 years old and mostly under 25 adding that this group age constitutes 55% of the cases.
He said that we are faced with the risk of an increase in hospitalisations although the number is still low compared to the previous outbreaks.
Asked if some restrictive measures will return, Professor Karayiannis said that we need to thoroughly assess the epidemiological figures in the next few days adding that all depend on the hospitalizations. He said that right now the situation is still under control adding that we need to examine what kind of measures could be imposed in the middle of the tourist season.
Dr. Karayiannis said that we need to keep on practising social distancing and to follow the measures, to wear our mask and behave responsibly. He also urged people once again to get their vaccines, pointing out that vaccines are efficient. He also underlined that most of the clusters seem to have started from overcrowded places where measures and protocols were not followed.
He also said that we need to step up the vaccinations with the aim to reach 80% coverage by September.
