Professor of Microbiology concerned about asymptomatic patients

Dr Petros Karayiannis, Professor of Microbiology/Molecular Virology at the University of Nicosia Medical School, has expressed concern over the great number of private hospitals, universities, bank branches and companies all over Cyprus where coronavirus cases have been detected.

Speaking to CNA, Karayiannis said that this is extremely dangerous for spreading the virus to the community.

He said that it appears that health protocols are not being strictly observed.

Professor Karayiannis expressed concern about the three-digit number of cases recorded in the recent days. He recalled that the past few days Cyprus recorded over 900 new cases.

He noted that the possibility of transmitting the virus is very high, since in addition to the symptomatic persons there are also asymptomatic ones in the community.

“We are talking about 900 active cases of the virus, maybe even more.  There are also asymptomatic persons who pose great risk and have not been identified since it is more the symptomatic patients who come for testing. But we must definitely have asymptomatic ones because at the moment we are seeing a reversal of the situation we had in the Summer, where we had 40% of the cases due to asymptomatic people. At the moment, however, 70% of our cases have symptoms “, he noted.

As regards the new measure to use protective masks outdoors, he said that this is a measure taken already in many European countries and expressed hope that the problem will come under control with the compliance with the new measures.

He said that in the next ten days we should have a gradual but significant drop of cases, otherwise, he said, the measures taken in the districts of Limassol and Pafos will be applied in other districts as well

(CNA)