Unofficial Translation
Press Conference on current epidemiological situation 25/08/2020
Minister of Health Lengvarský
Good afternoon to all. I will only comment shortly. We are happy to state that the situation related to Covid-19 is still pretty stable, the hospitalizations are not increasing significantly and the number of daily cases is as well at quite stable levels, although slightly increasing.
We are content with these developments. I will now give floor to Mr. Misik for further details.
Head of IZA Mišík
Good afternoon, thank you. I will start with short overview of the situation abroad. The situation in Europe can be divided into three different categories. The countries which started the wave at the beginning of summer, such as Portugal, Spain, France, or UK, are, with the exception of UK, already decreasing in numbers. The UK has after three weeks of decline started to rise again. Then in central Europe there are countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, which are currently significantly increasing when it comes to new cases.
Then, there are countries of V4, where Slovakia together with Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary are rising very lightly. Czech Republic is currently even decreasing a little.
When it comes to vaccination, Slovakia is still lagging behind the rest of the EU by around 20 percentage points. From our neighbours, the least vaccinated country is Ukraine, therefore we perceive as very positive to donate vaccines to this country, as some imports can come to Slovakia from this country too.
The vaccination is not only about the total number of vaccinated but also about the age structure of those who received the vaccine. In UK, the steep increase in new cases was not associated with any sharp increase in hospitalizations because this country has almost full vaccination of older age groups. Czech Republic also seems to have better level of vaccination in older age groups, plus after the last wave of the disease many people gained immunity against the disease by overcoming it. The age division is thus an important factor to consider when setting up the anti-epidemic measures in a given country.
In Slovakia currently the slight increase in cases is continuing – we have around 100 cases a day. The number of hospitalized is under 50 patients, the most in Kosice region (17) and Prešov region (10). We are at the moment changing the method of collecting data from hospitals, so we should be better able to identify the shares of vaccinated and unvaccinated patients among those hospitalized. The number of ventilated patients decresed to 4. The pace of growth is relatively mild, pretty much stable over the last couple of weeks.
If we compare the current situation with the development last year, the trend is pretty much being copied, both in terms of new cases and hospitalized patients. We are about two weeks in advance compared to last year however. Last year we also seen that as children returned to schools and people to work, the numbers of new cases risen rapidly.
In past two weeks, 78% of positive cases were among unvaccinated. Even if take into consideration the age groups and incidence in these groups, we see significant differences between vaccinated and unvaccinated population.
At the moment, around 4000 people are being vaccinated per day with the first dose of vaccine. We see this is a sharp decrease compared to the peak in vaccination when during some days it was more than 35 000 people a day. We expect that in September with the proper demonstration of the start of the wave, the interest in vaccination will rise too. This might be too late for some however. We seen this also in the US, where at the beginning of
July with the rise in positive cases the vaccination increased from around 400 000 to almost 700 000 people a day.
The regional differences in vacination are relatively high in Slovakia. What is positive however is that there are already 8 districts which have reached over 50% vaccination share of their total population. We hope the number of such districts will increase continuouly.
What is also positive is that the number of people over 50 years of age who would not have protection of at least one dose of vaccine is already below 800 000. The target is to decrease this number as much as possible. Positive is also that among children who will return to school, among those aged 12-18, there are already 21% with at least the first dose. This can already create some kind of barrier from spread of virus in schools, which presents an advantage compared to the situation last year.
The total vaccination over the age of 50 is one of the decisive indicators of Covid Automat.
The number of districts getting close to that level of 65% is growing, specifically Trnava, Galanta, Komárno, and several other districts are getting close to this limit. If the district reaches the 65% vaccination of this age group, their color is automatically 1 level better.
This brings us to the division of districts according to Covid Automat for the next week. This is the division of districts applicable for this week:
Next week, the measures in 2 districts will become milder – Spišská Nová Ves and Stropkov, and in 4 districts – Bardejov, Košice-okolie, Nové Zámky, and Žiar nad Hronom, the measures will get stricter corresponding to the Vigilance phase.
This is the map for next week.
What this means specifically is that in districts that are orange, for example at mass events, while there are no restrictions in capacities for events with fully vaccinated participants, for events in OTP regime (vaccinated, tested, after overcoming the disease) there are already some capacity restrictions, and for events in basic regime (all persons regardless of vaccination status), the restrictions are even more strict, with maximum attendance limits.
At wedding receptions in orange districts, there can be max 200 vaccinated persons in exteriors and 100 in interiors, in OTP regime max 100 in exterior and 50 in interior. For restaurants, for basic regime, only outside terraces are allowed, while for OTP and fully vaccinated 4 people can be at 1 table also in interiors. These operations are obliged to publish notice informing about the regime in which they operate.
That is all from my side, thank you.
Questions:
Q: How do you evaluate the campaigns promoting vaccination, given the numbers of newly vaccinated are decreasing. For example, the vaccination lottery.
ML: We cannot so far estimate the effect of the vaccination lottery, but as I said in past, any attemp to motivate people to vaccinate is meaningful. We need to increase the level of information related to vaccination in society and that is why we are also planning some public talks and debates in specific towns where the situation is worst. One such event was already organized in Spišská Nová Ves and we will continue these efforts also through media and through visiting of these regions and talking to people.
Q: When could the studies on the need to vaccinate with the third dose be finished so we would know the conclusions?
ML: Such studies are conducted by the companies that produce the vaccines. We are communicating with experts who have the best overview of the data and studies and they
will express their opinions and advise the ministry in this decision on when we could start to administer the third dose and to whom.
Q: In past you mentioned that the third dose can be different than the first two doses. How it will be in case of those vaccinated with Sputnik – these were people who did not want to get vaccinated with any other vaccines. How will you proceed with these people in case they will need the third dose?
ML: Sputnik producers, just like any other vaccine producers, will also have their guidelines for the administration of the third dose. Sputnik is a vector vaccines, so whether it will be combined with mRNA vaccine or some protein vaccines already at that time, that should all be possible too. It will be individual and there will be several options.
Q: What I meant was that these people rejected other types of vaccines, so whether it is possible that for these people, Slovakia will order additional Sputnik vaccines so they can receive their third dose too. Those vaccines that Slovakia bought will already be used by some 19 000 people and then these will also expire by the end of August.
ML: Yes, those who wanted to receive this vaccine were already vaccinated and next week we will finish the vaccination with this vaccine completely. As for further purchases, we still have enough time for these decisions.
Q: Do you already know how many unvaccinated people are around those hospitalized?
ML: This will be exactly provided by the new form of reporting that we mentioned. Next week already we should have these data.
Q: Slovaks are organizing trips to Hungary for meeting with the Pope, as Hungary is going to suspend the pandemic measures during the visit. Are you going to reconsider the decision taken in Slovakia that only vaccinated people can attend these events in Slovakia?
ML: This decision was already taken, the debates with experts are still ongoing, but the current situation in Slovakia in terms of vaccinated population is different from the situation in Hungary. So we cannot afford the same rules as Hungarians can afford during the visit.
Q: Are you considering adapting the indicators of the Covid Automat as some analysts are complaining that it is set under very strict rules.
ML: Our experts are continuosly discussing the possible changes, we have also received some comments from other experts in the field, and epidemiologists are evaluating these suggestions. We know about some drawbacks and it is possible that there will be some changes.
Q: Can you be more specific? Maybe you will change the factors for deciding the colours of districts so they will be more influenced by hospitalizations, rather than the number of new cases?
ML: We want to make sure that we will not sort the districts into more strict phases just based on some local family outbreak and similar. But I would prefer not to predict something that might not take place, our experts are evaluating what is the best and considering several options.
Q: Can you at least say when could Covid Automat change?
ML: It might be a question of about two weeks.
Q: Will you not consider also changing the criterium for vaccination of 50+ population from 65% to 60% so more districts can reach this level?
ML: I was not present at all discussions that took place on this topic, so I cannot comment on this now. It might be possible, but I would prefer not to discuss it yet. But I think that the limit of 65% is good.
Q: Czech Republic is already throwing away some expired vaccines. Does Slovakia have a similar problems due to lower interest in vaccines?
ML: If I have correct information, there was no expiration yet. The vaccines that we have in stocks that have their expiration date closest in November I think, are already being donated to Ukraine, so there should be no similar problem.
Q: Operators of restaurants, shops or services are complaining about not having clear guidelines for their employees, given that customers need to be vaccinated or tested, but similar rules do not apply to people providing these services for these customers.
ML: This is the risk for such employees mostly, because they are the ones who are not protected. We were considering this and were thinking of incorporating similar rules for employees too, but we cannot force anybody to get vaccinated. Such employees need to comply with other rules, such as covered airways or other hygienic measures, and I call on them to get vaccinated too, in order to protect themselves and their families, but we cannot force them under condition of performing their job.
Q: I would like to ask about the commuters living abroad, for example in Austria. There, the full vaccination is valid only for 9 months, which is already getting close to expiring, and they are saying they would want the third dose. Are you thinking of enabling at least these person to receive it on voluntary basis, if they need it for the country where they live or work?
ML: As I said, this decision will come in short period of time. The studies so far show that the vaccine is fully functional for about 9 months, but I do not exclude that this decision will be taken in a week or two and then we can recommend people on how to proceed.
Q: Do hospitals already know how to proceed in case they receive higher numbers of Covid patients?
ML: Yes, they know how to proceed. First they will fill the departments such as infection wards or pulmonary departments, and then they will proceed with reporfiling in a way to limit the admissions of other patients the least possible.
Q: Are you not considering some other way than reprofilization? Such as field hospitals, new departments, etc?
ML: We have already built some new departments with additional beds and trained some new staff as well. There should be sufficient number of beds, however, you have to realize that only beds are not enough – you need equipment, radiology departments, CT and other departments for all necessary examinations. So the problem is not in beds, the problem is to manage the operation of the whole hospital in a way so it can provide the necessary care for such patients. So it is more question of technical equipment than the beds only.
Q: Do you have good feeling that the hospitals are well prepared for the next wave?
ML: Yes.
Q: How relevant are the data about infected vaccinated vs unvaccinate people, as vaccinated people are getting tested only under minimum circumstances. For example, when returning from abroad they do not have to get tested at all. So how do you take into account the fact that among those tested are predominantly unvaccinated people when making such statistics.
Mr. Misik: Everybody who has symptoms, whether vaccinated or unvaccinated gets tested, so the indicated testing of vaccinated people is still continuing. But I admit that unvaccinated people are represented more among those tested. This is why the data from hospitals will show the shares better among those hospitalized. Similar data from abroad already show that vaccinated people only present the minority in such hospitalized cases. So this is where it will be best showed.
Q: Mr. Misik, will you not also share some details about the planned changes in Covid Automat?
Mr. Misik: The discussions at ministry are taking place, also with representatives from UVZ, organization Data bez pátosu, or other experts. The indicators deciding on the level of district should work as good as possible in order to prevent future hospitalizations. So we have to find the right balance to keep this objective, so it is not too restrictive but it still fulfils this function.
