Paata Imnadze: the new strain has not been confirmed in two cases, one case is under investigation
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, January 4
Paata Imnadze, Deputy Director of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, says that research on the new strain of Coronavirus has been completed in two cases and has not been confirmed, while in one case, it is ongoing. He spoke about it with the Public Broadcaster.
“There were some suspicious cases of the new strain of Covid-19 and the research was underway. We were able to finish the research of two cases, out of which, none were confirmed as a new strain. One of the cases is still being reviewed, and we will have the results soon. The new strain has spread in many countries and although it is not more severe, it is spreading at a higher speed,” said Imnadze.
On December 14, a new variant of Coronavirus was detected in England. Health officials say the new coronavirus strain is 70% more contagious, but it has not been proven whether it is more lethal. Several countries have suspended air traffic to Britain due to a coronavirus mutation, including France.
On December 21, a mandatory quarantine was imposed on persons entering Georgia from the UK or who have visited the UK in the last two weeks.
As for the regular Covid-19 cases, the daily number of them has decreased in Georgia. However, the First Deputy Minister of Health of Georgia Tamar Gabunia said that the numbers of the Covid-19 cases in Georgia have decreased because fewer people are tested.
She said that there might be an increase in the coming weeks. She noted that the positive cases are still around 11% of the taken tests. "Our goal is to take down the number to 5%, this is when we will be able to say that the numbers are decreasing," added Gabunia.
As of January 3, 417 new cases of Coronavirus were confirmed in Georgia, with 2469 recoveries and 31 deaths. In total, 228,169 cases were reported in the country since the beginning of the pandemic. Out of these, 220,442 people have already recovered.
The most cases were reported in October and November when the number of daily reported cases were between 3,000 to 5,000. In total, 2603 people have died because of Covid-19 in Georgia.
