A. Tsoi reported to the President on three scenarios for the development of the epidemiological situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan
Nur-Sultan April 1, 2021
Today, under the chairmanship of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev, a meeting was held on measures to counter coronavirus infection. Health Minister Alexei Tsoi reported on the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the country, on the ongoing vaccination, and also voiced three forecasts for the development of a pandemic in Kazakhstan.
The situation in terms of morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in the world remains tense. To date, more than 129 million cases of CVI have been registered in 221 countries of the world, the increase in incidence is 0.5. More than 2, 8 million people died, the mortality rate was 2.2%. After a slight decrease in global morbidity statistics in January 2021, a steady upward trend has been established since February.
In Kazakhstan, as of April 1, 246,854 patients with a positive result of COVID-19 and 50,618 cases with CVI- were registered. Recovered 90% of patients.
According to the matrix of the epidemiological situation, 6 regions are in the red zone: the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan, Almaty, and Aktobe regions. There are 2 regions in the yellow zone: the city of Shymkent and the Karaganda region. The remaining 9 regions are located in the green zone.
“In general, in the republic, the implementation of a realistic forecast scenario of an increase in morbidity in March-April of this year is noted. So, over the past 10 days, 15,156 cases of CVI were registered in the republic, compared to the beginning of March, the incidence rate increased 2.0 times, including the largest increase in the number of cases observed in the cities of Almaty, Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktobe, Atyrau, Karaganda, West Kazakhstan regions, ”- A. Tsoi said.
As of April 1, 258 infectious diseases hospitals with a bed capacity of 25 893 beds were used to provide medical care to patients with CVI. Operated is 33%. Intensive care beds – 2394, 20% occupied.
“In March, there is also an increase in mortality, 288 patients died from CVI, including over the past 2 weeks the mortality increased 2.7 times.
74% of deaths in March accounted for 4 regions – Almaty, Nur-Sultan, West Kazakhstan and Karaganda regions, ”the Minister said.
In the regions, there is a plan for the systematic deployment of infectious beds, the reserve of infectious beds is 51 thousand beds when 70% of the workload of the existing infectious hospitals are reached, reserve facilities will be involved, while the provision of planned specialized medical care will continue.
The Ministry has developed an electronic system for monitoring the employment of the bed fund to the level of each medical organization in the region, which makes it possible to respond timely and deploy additional hospitals.
At the same time, work continues to increase the capacity of laboratories for testing at CVI. Today, testing at CVI is carried out by 154 laboratories, the total testing capacity is 112 thousand tests per day. The integration of all laboratories, including private ones, was carried out, which made it possible to form a single database of the results of PCR testing for COVID-19.
A. Tsoi informed that the rate of spread of the virus is associated with changes in the genome of the virus. In order to identify new mutations, we on an ongoing basis conduct a genetic study of CVI strains circulating on the territory of the republic. So in March, the genotype of 265 positive samples was studied, of which a virus belonging to the British was found in 12 samples, of which 8 were imported cases. The circulation of this strain was detected in the cities of Almaty, Nur-Sultan, and in the Aktobe region. Also in Almaty, the circulation of the South African strain was established. In addition, since March, an express method has been carried out to identify possible mutations of three strains of concern throughout the world. A total of 357 samples were examined, of which 87 samples from 13 regions revealed the probability of a mutation characteristic of the “British” and “South African” strains.
“According to your instructions, Kassym-Zhomart Kemelevich, the vaccination against CVI started from February 1, 2021. Vaccination started with first-line workers in the fight against CVI. This tactic is used in most countries of the world and is due to the limited volume of vaccines at the initial stage, in view of the restrictions on exports by the producing countries to cover domestic needs. Today, 2 months after the start of the campaign, vaccination against CVI has been shown to be effective and safe and has also increased public confidence. As of April 1, the availability of vaccination to 300 thousand citizens has been ensured. In April, it is planned to supply more than 2 million additional doses of the Russian vaccine. By the end of the first half of the year, it is planned to vaccinate about 6 million Kazakhstanis, ”the Head of the Ministry of Health said about the rate of vaccination.
These volumes of vaccine will allow maximizing the contingent to be vaccinated against CVI and the availability of vaccination to everyone free of charge.