After the New Year holiday and the first detection of a new Omicron strain at the end December, the situation has worsened as expected.
Health officials claim that the actual number of Omicron cases is three to four times higher. According to the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC), so far, none of the Omicron-infected patients have required resuscitation.
The Interagency Coordination Council has urged skiers and snowboarders to adhere to Covid regulations. This includes wearing face masks, and maintaining social distance. Despite this, skiers and snowboarders are still allowed to enter gondolas with groups up to 10. Bakuriani and Gudauri are now hotbeds of the virus.
Tamar Gabunia said that the NCDC does not intend to recommend a postponement of learning. In-class study will begin in schools and kindergartens throughout Georgia on January 17. Parents can still register their children to learn online (every Thursday from 6pm until midnight).
The Statistics
Georgia reported 5486 cases of coronavirus, 2893 recoveries and 46 deaths Tuesday. Tbilisi had the highest number of cases with 2985, followed by Adjara with 569 and Imereti with 563.
On Wednesday, 5596 new cases, 2946 recoverys, and 47 deaths were reported. Tbilisi reported 3180 cases followed by Adjara (638) and Imereti (563).
On Thursday, there were 5326 new cases of coronavirus, 3044 recoveries and 48 deaths. Tbilisi reported 3148 new cases in 24 hours. Adjara followed with 563 and Imereti with 437.
The daily test-positivity is now at 9.6%.
Since February 2020, Georgia has recorded 979,235 cases, 922,411 of which were recovered, and 14,359 deaths.
The Cases Around the World
On Monday, the US recorded over one million Covid cases within 24 hours.
On Thursday, the UK reported 231 deaths related to Covid. A number of hospitals declared “critical” incidents because of staff absences and increasing pressures caused by Covid.
Hospital numbers are also increasing in other countries. France‘s Health Minister Olivier Veran warned last week that January will be tough for hospitals. France reported 261,000 new cases on Thursday.
WHO reported that the number of cases worldwide has increased by 71% and in the Americas, by 100% in the past week. It stated that 90% of severe cases in the world were not vaccinated.
The Omicron strain is on course to infect over half of Europeans. However, it should not be viewed as an endemic flu-like illness, according to the World Health Organization.
Hans Kluge, WHO’s Europe Director, said at a press briefing that the number of newly reported cases in Europe increased by more than 7,000,000 during the first week 2022. This is more than doubled over a period of two weeks.
Kluge, a researcher at the University of Washington, said that if the rate of infection continues, more than half of the population of the region could be infected by Omicron within the next six to eight weeks.
Kluge said that 50 out of 53 European and Central Asian countries have recorded cases of the more contagious variant.
Omicron, however, appears to affect the upper respiratory tract rather than the lungs and cause milder symptoms.
The World Health Organization has warned against calling the Omicron variant mild, claiming that it kills people all over the world.
According to Dr Tedros Adhanom, WHO chief, Omicron is less likely than previous Covid versions to cause serious illness. However, the record number who have caught it has put severe pressure on health systems.
The Vaccination Process
“Vaccinating everyone regularly against Covid-19 is neither sustainable nor affordable,” says UK vaccine researcher Prof Sir Andrew Pollard who helped develop the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccination. He said that the most vulnerable should be identified, and priority given to them.
He said that the UK had done “extremely” well with the rollout of booster jabs for all eligible adults. However, other parts of the globe were falling behind.
Prof Pollard said on BBC Radio 4 Today: “It is not sustainable, affordable or even necessary to vaccinate every person on the planet once every four to six weeks.”
In 197 countries, coronavirus vaccines totaling more than nine billion doses have been administered.
China and India, respectively, have administered the most doses, with almost three billion and 1,5 billion. The US is third with more than 500 millions.
Early studies suggest that the newly identified Omicron coronavirus variant is better able than previous strains to evade vaccination protection, though vaccination offers a strong protection against serious illness or hospitalization.
At least 89 countries are now implementing booster vaccination programs.
BBC reports that more than 100 vaccines are being tested to determine their safety and efficacy.
By Ana Dumbadze
Read More @ georgiatoday.ge