“A Year with Covid”
By Natalia Kochiashvili
Wednesday, January 27
According to the 5th report of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC) “One year with COVID - 19”, Georgia ranks 11th in the European region in terms of Covid-19 testing per 100,000 inhabitants. In particular, according to the report, the total number of tests conducted in the country in 2020 was 1,957,395, which is 52,662 tests per 100,000 inhabitants. Luxembourg, Denmark and Cyprus are in the top 3 in Europe in terms of tests per 100,000 inhabitants. According to this data, Georgia is ahead of countries such as Norway, Italy, Switzerland, Finland.
The report states that the first case of COVID-19 in Georgia was confirmed on February 26, 2020. A total of 228,410 people were confirmed to have COVID-19 by 2020.
"Since September 10, due to the increase in confirmed cases, the incidence rate has increased sharply and reached a maximum on December 10, and in the subsequent period, in accordance with the expansion of preventive measures and point restrictions, the rate decreased and the average COVID-19 incidence rate as of December 31, 2020 Equal to 37.2.
NCDC report shows the percentage distribution of COVID - 19 confirmed cases in Georgia by age groups. Citizens aged 15-24 and 35-44 are distinguished by high rates of infection. 7.4% of the infected are children under 15 years old; 10.5% - people aged 65-74. 57% of infected were women and 43% - men. As of December 31, 2020, the share of the recovered was 94%, with 1.1% of the infected dying.
Document states that 70% of confirmed cases of coronavirus by PCR and antigen-based methods are in people with symptoms, and 6% are medical personnel. In 2020, 62 members of the medical staff died of COVID - 19 in Georgia, which is 0.4% of the total number of confirmed cases in the medical staff. Sex is evenly distributed among the dead. 64.5% of the deceased nurses were inpatient medical staff or employees of a fever, COVID or online clinic and all inpatient, intensive care and resuscitation departments. The data in the report is as of December 31, 2020.
Note that yesterday, 17,349 tests were performed that revealed 1,006 new cases of coronavirus infection which is a 6% detection rate of infection. Given this background, all restrictions remain active in Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Rustavi and some of them were lifted in the rest of Georgia. The government says the 7-day average positive rate should not exceed 4% in order to open up the economy.
According to Prime Minister Giorgi Gakharia the main part of economic activities in the country will not work until the infection rate drops. Gakharia says there is a risk of increased infection and therefore rapid restrictions will be necessary again.
"If the positive rate is more than 4%, it is unnecessary to talk about normal functioning in the country, as well as normal economic functioning, because the risk of rapid spread is very high," he said.
The PM says that economic activities will not be opened at the same time across the country. He cited Tbilisi and Adjara as examples of this. According to him, in Adjara, unlike Tbilisi, the decision to launch transport was made due to the low rate of infection.
On 26th of January, several dozen cities demanded that the government administration ease restrictions. Politicians Elene Khoshtaria and Zura Japaridze also attended the rally. Among those gathered were people who were left unemployed due to Covid-19 restrictions.
According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, head of the National Center for Disease Control, the percentage of the population that agrees to be vaccinated against coronavirus varies between 50-60%, which is due to several factors. According to him there is a strong anti-vaccination movement in the country, as elsewhere and at the same time, the population is not properly informed about vaccination.
Gamkrelidze named the 4 main directions that can defeat the pandemic: reasonable and timely restrictions, mass vaccination of the population and the use of a third so-called direct-acting antiviral drug, which he is sure, will be ready this year.”After a certain period of time the virus will end its so-called biological cycle. It will weaken somewhat and turn into a relatively weak virus throughout the year, or a seasonal virus such as the flu virus. But, as you know, all this is a matter of theoretical discussion,” Gamkrelidze added.
Minister of Health Ekaterine Tikaradze says they are waiting for the vaccine at the end of February. According to her ministry has already sent a request to all clinics and medical facilities to provide a detailed list of all the staff working in the medical facility so that the vaccination process can be properly planned. “In addition to Pfizer, we expect half a million doses of AstraZeneca in the first quarter,” she stated.
