The Minister of Health, Alexanfru Rafila, stated, on Sunday afternoon, that the number of flu cases decreased by 15 percent in the last week, stating that he hopes that by the end of February, some values will be reached that are manageable without problems.
Alexandru Rafila declared, on Sunday, on Digi24, that the number of viruses has stabilized in the last week, but that the number of flu cases has decreased significantly.
“The number of respiratory viruses has stabilized. It is almost identical to that of last week, and the number of flu cases has decreased significantly, by 15 percent. The number of virus cases will also begin to decrease, the flu has already happened, and until at the end of February, I hope we will reach some values that can be managed without problems”, said Minister Alexandru Rafila.
He specified that, in recent years, the intense circulation of influenza viruses, not only in Romania, was related to the lifting of anti-Covid restrictions.
“The intense circulation of flu viruses was linked to the post-Covid period. When measures to reduce circulation, individual protection and collective protection were widely applied in most states of the world, and the number of flu cases was low. When the restrictions were – they raised it then and the flu showed its true face. On the other hand, two or three years without flu infections also led to a decrease in the population’s immunity against the flu virus, because people no longer encountered this virus “, said the Minister of Health.
Alexandru Rafila believes that the only anti-influenza solution is to increase vaccination coverage, stating that in Romania there was “no particular appetite” for vaccination.
“Unfortunately, in Romania, we did not have a particular appetite for influenza vaccination. The performance of the last years was around 1.5 million doses administered. In other countries it is much more than in Romania, because the world tries to protect the categories more exposed, i.e. people over 65, patients with chronic diseases and pregnant women. In our country, the percentage is small, this year there were even less than 1.5 million doses administered,” said Alexandru Rafila.
At the same time, he specified that the number of deaths due to the flu is much lower than that recorded in the case of patients diagnosed with Covid.
“Anyway, the number of deaths from the flu that was confirmed was not very high, probably somewhere around ten. The figure is much lower than in the case of the Covid-19 infection, which causes between ten and 25 deaths per week. The peak , among deaths in patients infected with the coronavirus, the proportion of vaccinated and non-vaccinated patients is almost equal,” explained Rafila
Asked if he had the flu this winter, Minister Alexandru Rafila said no, citing that he gets vaccinated against the flu every year.
Almost 8,400 cases of clinical flu and 268 cases of laboratory-confirmed flu were registered in the week of January 29 to February 4, according to the latest report of the National Institute of Public Health (INSP). At the same time, 14 new deaths were reported in people confirmed to have the flu virus.
Due to the number of illnesses, a state of epidemiological alert was declared in Romania, but the declaration of the flu epidemic was not imposed.
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2024-02-11 13:25:02
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