Krajci: Number of People in Hospitals with Coronavirus Kept at about 1,800
Bratislava, November 20 (TASR) – The number of patients tested positive for the novel coronavirus in need of hospitalisation isn’t going up, with the figure being maintained at about 1,800, Health Minister Marek Krajci (OLaNO) told a news conference on Friday, adding that it currently stands at 1,778, dropping from 1,815.
The reproduction number is 0.9. The number of cases keeps going down, but not so significantly. While the fall last week was 34 percent, it is now 24 percent.
The minister went on to say that the 14-day incidence of novel coronavirus cases per 100,000 population improved from 526 to 409, and including antigen tests from 640 to 484.
The number of critical patients shrank only slightly – from 173 to 167, but 133 people need lung ventilation compared to 127 last week. “The moving median is improving week by week,” said Krajci, adding that it currently stands at 1,326 compared to last week’s 2,024.
The average number of tests dropped from 11,316 to 7,211. However, the percentage of people tested positive increased from 16 to 19. “However, if we combine antigen testing with PCR tests, we have a positive test rate of about ten percent, which is a slight increase,” he added. According to him, this shows that the reproduction number will deteriorate due to the easing of the measures.
“All regions are reporting lower figures, that is good news,” said the minister. The biggest improvement is in Zilina region, where there were previously several critical districts. The best situation is in Bratislava, Banska Bystrica and Kosice regions. The most affected districts are currently Puchov, Povazska Bystrica, Myjava (all Trencin region), and Stropkov (Presov region).
“The disease that we brought down by the intervention has, of course, probably gained momentum again in the last week,” he said. Although the number of people tested positive in the group of people over 65 years of age is declining, according to the minister, the spread of the disease in this age group is still not being significantly eliminated. “We’re still failing to protect the most vulnerable, which should be our goal,” he added. About 30 patients die each day from COVID-19.
