Coronavirus Chronicle in Moldova: "A Sudden Growth Yet Again"

Marina DRAGALIN Europe step on the path of stabilizing the epidemiological situation - several weeks of strict quarantine did the right job. Unfortunately, Moldova showed an opposite picture of it - the growth rate of cases continues increasing but the country cannot afford a lockdown. The coronavirus pandemic continues. The World Health Organization announced the next world’s anti-record for the number of new infections detected per week, it reached more than 4 million people. To date, COVID-19 has affected more than 61 million people, out of whom nearly 1.44 million have died. Anamplequantity of those infected are in serious or critical condition. WHO experts believe that past week’sstatistics speak of a "slowdown in the global pace" of the pandemic. At the same time, in the North and South America there was, on the contraryan increase in the growth rate of new and fatal cases. A similar situation may be observed in Africa where, with a relatively small number of infected people, the highest rates of growth in morbidity and mortality were recorded - by 15% and 30%, respectively. However, the European region noteda downward trend - several weeks of strict quarantine did theright job. To date, there has been a slowdown in the coronavirus spread in France and the UK. Particularly in the latter,this week a quarter fewer new cases were detected. At the same time, it is too early talking about epidemiological situation stabilization in Europe. In many countries, daily infection and mortality rates continue to rise. The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, generally warned of a third wave of coronavirus threatif quarantine measures are canceled too early. The third peak of pandemic, by the way, is already being recorded in Turkey. The head of the European Commission called, in particular, to learn from the summer relaxation and not to make the same mistakes. Simultaneously, the European Commission is actively working to provide the population with a vaccine against COVID-19. Contracts were concluded with six development companies: Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sanofi - GSK, Johnson & Johnson, BioNTech concern - Pfizer and CureVac. In total, the EU has agreed to purchase about 2 billion doses for a population of 450 million. Deliveries timing and the real possibilities for vaccines production are still unknown; anyway, the EU is confident that at least half of these companies will be able to develop an effective vaccine and by the end of 2020 the first EU citizens will be vaccinated. The contracts involve the possibility of selling the vaccine to third countries. There is a hope that Maia Sandu’svictory in presidential elections increased the chances of Moldova for a warmer European Union’sattitude in this matter as well because Moldova evidently needs the vaccine. This week, our country has crossed the 100 thousand cases mark, and just yesterday another anti-record was registered: 1,691 new cases per day. The  total number of confirmed cases in Moldova is almost 103 thousand people, every tenth is a health employee. The coronavirus has killed 2,229 people. Health Minister Viorica Dumbraveanu admits the situation is unfavorable. There are plans to provide additional beds for coronavirus patients. This is one of the immediate problems, since there were alarming messages this week, for example, about the exhausted bed capacity in Chisinau. The Ministry of Health also announced the procurement of over 100,000 tests to increase rapid testing capacity up to 7,000 per day. Ex-Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco analyzed the current indicators and said that if the incidence rates persist and effective measures to counter the pandemic are not introduced in the next two months, the number of COVID-19 cases will double. According to her, 37 000 new cases can be expected in December and 50,000 in January. President-elect Maia Sandu also noted that "the pandemic situation in Moldova has reached a critical point, the healthcare system is operating at its maximum, medical facilities are overwhelmed, they lack medicines and protective equipment, citizens with both COVID and other diseases cannot get access to medical services." In this context, she called on the government to provide for the medicine and business needs in the forthcoming budget. Prime Minister Ion Chicu also articulated the current challenges, "We had 3-4 weeks of relative decline after the September peak. Now, the incidence is dramatically increasing again". At the same time, everyone understands that Moldova cannot afford extraordinary economic restrictions and lockdown. The Moldovan coronavirus crisis has come to the attention of the WHO and UN representatives. Simon Springett and Igor Pokanevich, representing these organizations in Moldova,  assured that they would continue supporting the Moldovan authorities in their counter-pandemic efforts and promised that the country would receive a batch of medical equipment, including 40 ventilators. In addition, WHO and the UN promise to cover 20% of the Moldovan population with vaccination as soon as an effective drug is available. It is obvious that the epidemiological situation in Moldova is not going to stabilize in the near future. At the same time, a number of internal factors, including the carelessness of people and exhausted resources (both human and economic), make the situation even more challenging, so that our republic can only hope for an active and massive external aid.