Kostrikis: End of epidemic with 85% vaccination coverage - Excess PCR for students (BINTEO)

The new academic year and the danger of a new wave in the Autumn have recently been bothering both epidemiologists and the Government, who are trying with such decisions to limit a new rapid spread of the virus in the community.

At noon and something, Dr. Leontios Kostrikis was hosted, who spoke about mutations, vaccines and the new academic year.

Initially he mentioned that the mutations have dominated Cyprus with the Delta mutation being present in all the infections of our country.

"When it starts to winter, people tend to be indoors so the spread of the virus increases. "They need to be more careful when they are indoors," he said.

Referring to the mutations, he said that what we know about Cyprus is that the four waves we have seen on our island are the result of the introduction of a new different virus genotype.

"The epidemiological waves (4) are due to the fact that new viruses with different mutations entered the island. In order to see a new wave, we must see the introduction of a new virus, "said Dr. Kostrikis.

Asked if we could prevent a new virus from entering, he said: "What I suggested is to check infection numbers to know what is entering our country."

He added that the previous three waves were imports from the United Kingdom but for the fourth we do not know yet.

In addition, speaking about the vaccination, he said:

"Vaccination is the only weapon we have at the moment. "The vaccine coverage we need to end the pandemic is about 82-85%."

"I think it takes months to do that, we are close enough and I think it is possible. "If this is done, it will create immunity for the herd that will stop the epidemic."

In closing, he spoke about the topic that has been hotly debated lately, the return of students to universities.

"Students need to understand that they will be coming on September 6 with a Safe Pass, the Safe Pass provides either an examination or a vaccination."

He suggested that, if the situation continues to improve, the examination should be done initially with a rapid test, "Let's start with a rapid test and have a review done in a month. "Maybe PCR is too much at the moment, or it can be done for example thanks to large audiences, I would say from the ranks of 30 people and up."

"At some point everyone will have to be vaccinated and we will give the students time to be properly informed. "Students will see the difference if they give us the opportunity to explain certain things to them," said Dr. Kostrikis.

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Source: Sigmalive