Medical specialist comments on coronavirus cases decline in Kyrgyzstan
Only two new cases of COVID-19 and community-acquired pneumonia have been registered in Kyrgyzstan in the past two weeks. Does it mean that the republic has overcame the disease or there will still be an increase? Sultan Abdykadyrov, director of the Department of Disease Prevention and State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance of the Ministry of Health, told 24.kg news agency.
«The incidence situation is favorable now, there is a steady decline in cases. This is due primarily to the fact that the republic has a high level of immunity. Our colleagues conducted a study that showed that the proportion of the population that has antibodies is over 70 percent. These are those who have already had the disease. In addition, vaccination continues in the republic and the availability of vaccines is good,» he noted.
Sultan Abdykadyrov added that the disease has a wave-like course. «We have already been observing it for the third year and we see seasonality. Basically, the highest increase is in summer, in June-July, and surges are observed in autumn. There was a spike this winter. It was associated with a new Omicron strain. This variant is more contagious, but at the same time the severity of the disease has decreased. When the analysis was done, about 70 percent of the cases identified were asymptomatic,» he said.
The director of the department denied that the incidence of the disease has declined because tests are not conducted.
«Yes, their number has decreased, because testing is conducted upon referral and contact. If visits to doctors go down because people stop getting infected, then the number of tests also goes down. PCR tests are done for people leaving the country. Their number has even increased slightly due to the recent opening of the border with Kazakhstan,» he added.
According to Sultan Abdykadyrov, sporadic (single) cases of the disease will be registered. «We are also monitoring our neighbors, Kazakhstan. There are from 10 to 15 cases daily,» he said, adding that there might be a slight increase in cases at the end of May.
