Cases of Covid-19 and influenza have dropped significantly as the Omicron JN variant has “closed the loop”, a health ministry official said on Wednesday.
In the meantime, hospital admissions have effectively halved, the head of the medical service and public health Elisavet Constantinou told CNA.
More people have taken individual precautions, and in conjunction with increased vaccination numbers, there has been a decrease in registered Covid-19 and flu cases, she said.
In particular, there were 2,1239 cases between January 15 and 21 with a positivity rate of 2.1 percent.
Constantinou said this was a decrease compared to the previous week.
“The new Omicron JN sub-variant has closed the loop. It has overcome over 60-70 percent of positive cases, and people seem to have taken some personal protective measures, namely masks, rapid testing and confining themselves to the house if they have symptoms.”
There has also been “a surge of interest in vaccination, especially for people over 60 who are at risk”.
Hospital admissions are also on the decline. Between the week of January 15 and 21, there were 32 recordings, compared to 84 in the previous week.
Admissions to intensive care units have also fallen, Konstantinou added.
With regard to influenza cases, she stated that there are some cases of influenza A and “very few cases of influenza B”.
Based on the ministry’s network of physicians, “it appears that the syndromes for upper respiratory tract infections are showing a significant reduction this week, and that is encouraging.”
The flu typically has two peaks. One between January and February and the other in March.
“We seem to have reached a peak in recent weeks and this will be seen in interest rates over the next few weeks. Indicatively, the epidemiological curves are going down. Of course, this does not mean that people should stop taking personal protective measures,” she added.
