Health authorities yesterday agreed with Listín Diario’s proposal to develop strategies aimed at restrictive mobility measures and case tracking in the places identified with the highest incidence.
Dr Eddy Pérez Dan, advisor to the Ministry of Health on COVID-19 issues, and the Deputy Minister of Corporate Health, Dr Ivelisse Acosta, consider this statement to be very valid and correct, which they confirm has been thought of and is part of the strategies the country has adopted in some cases and is considering resuming at some point.
The Listín Diario newspaper yesterday emphasized in its editorial that provinces have been consistently identified as hotspots or sources of virus transmission and suggests applying a stricter curfew model in those areas and making quarantines more flexible in the rest of the country, without lowering them. our guard in a general sense, in combination with extensive diagnostic testing operations to identify, detect and contain infected people.
Dr. Acosta said this approach is very valid from an epidemiological point of view and that even in the same province there are areas with greater restrictions than others, “that has been considered and I think the possibility is being evaluated.”
Likewise, Dr. Pérez Then that it is a highly recommended strategy and that along with the mobility restriction a culture of contact finding should be created, which is currently a “One A” priority for the Dominican government.
It is not a permit
Likewise, Deputy Minister Acosta reminded the population that the fact that a less restrictive curfew was started yesterday and there has been a wider opening does not mean they should forget about the recommendations and lower their guard and that the opposite should be assumed and responsibility.
He recalled that continuing to open up, seeking a balance between health and the economy, or having to re-introduce restrictive measures depend on the behavior of the population and the virus.
“It is not a permit for us to think that we do not have an active problem. A COVID-19 affecting us, we have to see it both ways, as an attempt to balance health with the economy a little bit, “Acosta said.
New varieties
Regarding the possibility of new species circulating in the country, he reported that a national sample has been sent to the Atlanta CDC to be studied and to determine if a new variety is in circulation.
In addition, he reported that a computer or sequencer will be installed at the National Laboratory that will be able to identify and track the circulating strains of Covid and other viruses.
Transferability at 1.97%
Dr. Pérez then recalled that when people with symptoms are tested it increases the daily positivity ratio, but the four-week rate gives the trend in the virus’s behavior and it has been seen to decrease slightly.
Regarding the transmissibility rate, he said it has declined in the country as it was 3.26 on the 9th of this month, meaning that any infected patient could transfer the virus to that other amount, but it was on the 16th placed at 2.06 and at 23 at 1.97, showing that the mitigation measures are producing results.