Expert: We will continue to manage the epidemic by reducing contacts and aggressive testing.

He said residents who saw an improvement in coronavirus statistics began registering less frequently for the study, even if they felt symptoms of the disease.

“As the number of cases decreased, fewer people began to register voluntarily. It is necessary to actively search for the sick, test them all and isolate them,” V. Zemlys Balevičius said on Monday on the program “Delfi rytas”.

According to the researcher, it is now necessary to direct all capabilities to preventive testing of employees in various fields.

“The percentage of positive research in the education sector is still quite high. You just have to catch it. Traffic has now decreased. If it decreases, you have to increase, additional measures are needed,” said the expert.

The government should help the business trial financially

Speaking about the first planned shipments of rapid antigen tests, V. Zemlys Balevičius stated that they should be used for preventive testing.

“As suggested by the Government’s Council of Experts, increase preventive testing. Starting with education, continuing with other activities,” said the data researcher.

According to V. Zemlis Balevičius, rapid antigen tests will also allow companies to carry out preventive tests, and the Government should also help him.

“It just came to our notice then. Antigen testing is significantly cheaper than PCR. If you want to open and release, algorithms are suggested to perform that test. I hope the government will contribute, because the companies say they should be compensated. for testing the capacity, I think the government could contribute to that. We will only capture (patients – aut.p.) with more tests, “said the expert.

It is necessary to clarify the situation in the NVSC

V. Zemlys Balevičius also drew attention to the activities of the National Center for Public Health (NVSC).

“We have a situation where NVSC has not changed its principles of operation much. Who sends people and searches for them effectively? – The fact that you look at contacts, chimneys. We can also criticize the NVSC for the decrease in the amount of people who carry out tests, because the chimneys and the contacts are their responsibility: if they work inefficiently, they do not send them to tests. As a result, we have those test capabilities reduced “, emphasized the expert.

According to him, the NVSC has not yet published his data, it does not transmit it to the Department of Statistics.

“What we saw before the restrictions, there were big problems: 50 percent. the cases have not been clarified. The question is what is the situation there. The Health Ministry said it has a plan of how to do it there, the fact that the head has not gone is a big problem. If we do not have an active institution in the control of the epidemic, (…) then we have a huge ‘luxury’. We wandered the room, the maze with our eyes closed. This is not good, “said V. Zemlys Balevičius.

Expert: The president has received unjustified criticism for the objective set

Speaking about the goal announced by President Gitanas Nausėda: vaccinate 70% in mid-summer. the country’s adult population, said the scientist, a goal that was unnecessarily criticized.

“I think the president is now receiving unjustifiable criticism for setting such an ambitious goal. That goal is very true. We need to be prepared for the 70 percent. Vaccinated in July. The problem is how much will we get for that vaccine. … What the vaccine manufacturers promised and what the EU ordered: considerable quantities and a lot of money there, but unfortunately there are problems with capacity, ”said V. Zemlys Balevičius.

According to him, it is to be hoped that vaccine manufacturers, having announced that they will ship smaller shipments of requested vaccines, are simply preparing for a capacity increase.

“It just came to our notice then. The question is whether there is a temporary outage now (…) or is it a bigger problem, after all, when manufacturers have overestimated their capabilities. I’m optimistic because the money is turning. (…) Companies are testing their capabilities and preparing to seriously expand. Since these are commercial and big money businesses, I think they will make that capacity and then flood themselves with vaccines. So we must be prepared for the quantity of vaccines. That goal is good. We have to prepare for it, ”said the expert.

However, he did not hide the fact that the vaccine production process is beyond the control of the parties themselves.

“Let’s hope for the best, let’s prepare for the worst. Unfortunately, in this place that production process is unknown, which we cannot control,” said V. Zemlys Balevičius.

The scientist also said that complete relaxation is not yet possible.

“While we wait for this vaccination and its acceleration, we will have to manage the epidemic with the usual methods: contact reduction and aggressive testing,” said the expert.

“Those restrictions will drop if they fall to a certain level. Nobody wants to keep those restrictions because it is bad for the economy, there are negative consequences. It is too early to forgive, especially when we have a British version, (we cannot – aut.p.) because we will be back. to the same. Our health system may not be able to withstand the third wave. This is due to delays, not because we do not want to forgive (quarantine restrictions – aut.p.) “, added V. Zemlys Balevičius.