Coronavirus Chronicle in Moldova: Dire Forecasts Come True

Marina DRAGALIN

Incidence and mortality from COVID-19 continue to grow rapidly. The key factors of the deteriorating situation are the slow pace of vaccination and non-compliance with sanitary standards.

The World Health Organization has been registering a systematic global decrease in the incidence of COVID-19 for several months. Last week, the number of new cases of infection decreased by 9%, mortality – by 4%. Meanwhile, although Africa, the Eastern Mediterranean and Southeast Asia show good rates of morbidity reduction, in Europe it is on the contrary growing. In total, 237 million cases of infection with a new type of coronavirus have been recorded in the world, of which 4.84 million resulted in death. Together with other European countries, Moldova is now experiencing the fourth wave of incidence. The situation is quite complicated. The orange epidemic danger level has already come into effect nationwide. Experts say that the deterioration is the result of the increased transmissibility of the Delta variant, the low level of vaccination of citizens and non-compliance with sanitary rules. Over the past week, the growth rate of new cases has increased by 12% compared to the previous one. About 500 patients with COVID-19 are hospitalized in medical institutions of the country every day. Out of more than 2,800 beds only about 250 remained vacant. Doctors dread a shortage of beds in the near future. This week, an average of 1,500 new cases were detected every day. The incidence in Moldova is on average 220 cases per 100 thousand. “Based on the population, the most alarming situation is in Balti with more than 500 cases per 100 thousand. There are four more regions - Transdniestria, Chisinau, Singerei and Edinet, where the threshold of 250 cases has been exceeded. This is a red zone”, State Secretary of the Ministry of Health Svetlana Nicolaescu said. Experts also record surge in mortality rates – this week the indicator increased by almost 60%. “During the past week, a total of 159 deaths were registered. The average number of daily deaths has increased to 22. Last week it was 14”, the Health Ministry representatives emphasize. In total, 301.4 thousand people were infected with COVID-19 in Moldova, 6927 of them died. Despite the rapid growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths, the rate of vaccination in Moldova is falling. Ninel Revenсo, coordinator of the vaccination campaign, says that recently there has been a decrease in the number of people who come for vaccination, which causes concern among specialists. “Unfortunately, all our efforts to convince the population to receive vaccination are not yielding results, and the number of cases has grown very much. The average rate of infections over the past 7 days is 211 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, and this means that the orange level of epidemic danger has come into effect nationwide. There is a contradictory situation in the Chisinau municipality: on the one hand, we have the highest vaccination rate - more than 30%, on the other hand, we have citizens who do not take precautions at all”, Revenco comments on the situation. Experts urge citizens to get vaccinated, as it will allow a mild form of the disease. According to Professor Serghei Sargu, the vaccinated hardly ever get into intensive care units and the mortality rate among them is zero. “Yes, vaccines cause side effects. Like any medicine. To date, 1497 cases of side effects have been registered in the Republic of Moldova per 1.38 million doses of vaccines, of which 120 are moderate (fever, allergic reactions), 1377 are mild (local pain, fever, fatigue, muscle and joint pain) and none are severe. 6 billion 27 million vaccines have already been administered worldwide,” Health Minister Ala Nemerenco told addressing the citizens. The current wave of coronavirus has filled hospitals with youth. If earlier the virus affected mostly older people, now the opposite is true. There are a lot of unvaccinated young people in intensive care units who failed to comply with sanitary standards. According to the Ministry of Health, the number of vaccinated among young people is the lowest compared to other age groups. Data from the National Center for Public Health show that less than one percent of eighteen-year-olds have received both vaccine doses. Among young people aged 19 to 30 this figure is just over 13%, while every fifth resident of Moldova aged 30-40 got jabbed. More vaccinated (27%) are citizens from 40 to 49 y.o. At the same time, there are almost twice as many people over 50 who have completed a full course of immunization. Given the trends of increasing morbidity and low rates of vaccination, doctors are urging the authorities to impose new restrictions, because the medical system is barely coping with a large flow of patients. If the upsurge in daily cases continues, the restrictions that came into force on October 1 will be tightened.