Lengvarsky: Pandemic Situation Still Quite Stable

Bratislava, August 25 (TASR) – The situation with COVID-19 remains relatively stable; the number of people admitted to hospitals isn’t going up and the number of people infected with novel coronavirus is also relatively stable, Health Minister Vladimir Lengvarsky (an OLaNO nominee) said on Wednesday following the Government meeting.

“Within the V4 countries, the number of cases is growing slightly. In terms of the vaccination rate, we lag behind the EU average as a country by 20 percent,” said head of the of Health Ministry’s Health Analysis Institute Matej Misik.

Over the last seven days, there have been an average of 115 infected cases per day in Slovakia. Among the cases in the last two weeks, 74 percent of those infected were unvaccinated. A total of 47 patients are hospitalised, most of them in Kosice region. “However, the growth rate of the infected is relatively moderate and stable as in past weeks,” added Misik.

At the same time, he expects that with the start of the new school year, interest in vaccinations will increase slightly. There are currently eight districts with over 50-percent vaccination rate of their inhabitants. “The number of unvaccinated people over the age of 50 is also declining. There are more districts approaching the 65 percent vaccination level for this age group, which will allow them to move to a lower level in the COVID automaton,” said Misik. In terms of districts, at least the first dose of vaccine was given to 30-61 percent of the population, with the percentage of fully vaccinated across regions standing at 26-58 percent.