We are taking a step forward and two steps back, said to KYPE the Professor of Microbiology / Molecular Virology of the Medical School of the University of Nicosia, member of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the coronavirus, Petros Karagiannis, after the new record number of 314 new cases of coronavirus the cluster of 92 virus-positive individuals at a slaughterhouse in Nicosia.
Referring to the number of cases yesterday, Mr. Karagiannis said that in addition to the 92 cases involving slaughterhouse workers, of the remaining 222 cases, 44 were imported and one concerned an immigrant in a structure. "So the domestic ones, apart from the 92 in the slaughterhouse, were 177 so we are under 200. On the other hand, when you have an influx of 92 people from whom other HIV-positive people can emerge, this may be the largest influx. "We have had so far, without of course knowing until the end of the traces what other confluences we have in the two provinces that are most affected, which are Limassol and Paphos," he said.
Mr. Karagiannis also stressed the need for each company to have its own health and safety supervisor, who also deals with the issue of compliance with measures to prevent the transmission of the coronavirus.
Asked if the next step will be stricter measures or lockdown, if there is no reduction in the number of cases, Mr. Karagiannis said that he believes that there will be a gradual tightening of measures, rather than a lockdown, unless things are drastically avoided.
He pointed out that if we want to make Christmas we must behave as the measures provide. "And then we still have to limit our social meetings with the close family and not something more. Of course, this will depend on our epidemiological picture at that time ", he noted.
Mr. Karagiannis expressed the hope that the existing measures will pay off. "They may have started to perform but somewhere things went wrong again. "With such a number of cases as yesterday, we may go one step forward and two steps back," he noted.
Asked about the possibility of a local lockdown in the two provinces with the most cases, namely in Limassol and Paphos, Mr. Karagiannis, pointed out that time was given until November 16 when the emergency measures will apply to these provinces. If things do not change, maybe there should be some differentiation, he noted.
Regarding a possible lockdown, as in Greece he said: “I can not say. At the moment I can not predict what could happen. I hope we avoid it with the collective effort of all. "Because when a few try, the rest of us sea them with this kind of behavior."
Cluster in the slaughterhouse
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Regarding the 92 cases in a slaughterhouse in Nicosia, Mr. Karagiannis said that until Sunday morning they had not been informed about them. Therefore, he said, we can not yet draw conclusions.
He pointed out that what needs to be clarified is whether the slaughterhouse complied with the existing measures. "I doubt it. "Of course they may have followed the measures in the slaughterhouse, but where they lived they did not follow them and then they spread the virus to others in the slaughterhouse who may have sat with them to eat, drink or smoke," he noted.
Mr. Karagiannis said that even during the first wave of the pandemic, there were cases of transmission of the virus in places where workers gathered to eat and restrictions were imposed, so that they could go to eat in order and not be overcrowded.
What has also been done is that half of them work in the workplace and the other half with telework. Of course in the case of the slaughterhouse this can not be done. Therefore, care needs to be taken not for everyone to take a break at the same time, he added.
Asked if he thinks there is an issue of monitoring the implementation of the measures, Mr. Karagiannis stressed that every company should have its own health and safety supervisor to deal with these issues as well.
When 92 people are infected, and more may be found, it means it is a large company that needs to have a supervisor, he said.
Mr. Karagiannis said that during the meeting that took place last month, under the Ministers of Health and Finance, with unions, employers' organizations and other bodies and services involved, for the measures in the workplace, "we had said and accepted that there should be supervisor in every business ”.
All the unions and employers' organizations were there and they accepted that. The issue is to implement it, he said.
Source; ΚΥΠΕ