The chairman of the National Committee for the Coordination of Activities on Vaccination Against SARS-CoV-2 (CNCAV), Valeriu Gheorghita, expressed concern on Thursday about the increase to 0.94 in the basal reproduction rate of COVID-19 cases that when this indicator reaches a value greater than 1, there is an increase in the number of cases.
In a press conference at Victoria Palace, he said that the epidemiological situation is "very good" at the moment and that it is important to maintain this favorable situation.
In this regard, he advocated for vaccination, showing that it prevents a significant increase in the number of cases, but also the risk of hospitalization and access to intensive care.
According to the president of CNCAV, at present it is not possible to talk about a community transmission of the Delta strain. On the other hand, he invoked estimates that, at the end of August, more than 90% of cases in Europe will be generated by the Delta strain, given that it has an "extremely high" capacity to pass from one person to another and escapes the action of the immune response in people who have been infected with other viral infections. At the same time, this variant is associated with "a reduction in the neutralizing activity of the antibodies" when vaccination was performed with a single dose.
Regarding the severity of this variant, Valeriu Gheorghita compared the situation of Great Britain with that of South Africa, showing that in the case of the latter there is a direct correlation between the increase in the number of cases and the increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
The president of CNCAV also showed that at European level, in the last week, there was a doubling of the cases generated by the Delta strain (about 5.8%). He added that in Romania at least 60% of the population does not have immunity to COVID-19, reports agerpres.