Dr. Petros Karagiannis, Professor of Microbiology / Molecular Virology at the Medical School of the University of Nicosia, is concerned about the increase in cases of coronavirus, stating that 15 cases occurred last week when they returned to secondary schools.
In statements to KYPE, Dr. Karagiannis said that "there is concern because children go back to school without being vaccinated, are not tested either by PCR or rapid tests and therefore the protection measures are protocols and self-protection measures of the children to be applied ".
He noted that due to the fact that the Delta strain has prevailed in Cyprus - which seems to be easily transmitted to children and children can get sick and transmit - there is a concern about how things will develop.
"Last week when the children of Secondary Education returned, there were about 13 individual cases in students and 2 in teachers without being related to each other."
Dr. Karagiannis stated that regarding the children of Secondary Education, they show the greatest mobility and are intertwined with each other. "The application of self-protection measures not only in schools but also especially when they are inside the schools and with each other, whether they play football or sit on a bench and talk, be careful with those who come in contact. Because the source of infection can be outside the school and get the virus in schools and later in their families. "This is a major concern, especially if there are unvaccinated people in the families," he added.
As for young children, he continued, I would recommend if children can use a mask to do this, at least when they are in the room and also those in their activities be careful - parents should ask children to be carefully.
The Professor said that vaccination coverage is increasing in children and there is more demand these days due to going back to school and ending the holidays.
Asked what would happen in case of chains of cases, he said that the protocols are clear that they will not close classes. "Children will simply be traced around the positive case, based on past experiences and I hope no chains will emerge. This is the effort of all of us and I hope we avoid it. "I find it a bit impossible to avoid it altogether, but let's keep it to a minimum," he added.
Dr. Karagiannis stressed that there must be a culture of security. "We have said many times that we need to live with the virus and we will do so without having to restrict the world by adhering to self-protection measures, as we did in the summer," he said.
"We had the most serious outbreak so far in Cyprus and due to vaccination coverage and protection recommendations, the economy continued to operate and we were slowly able to reduce the number of cases from 1165 to about 120 on average over the last three days," he added.