Misik: 38 Districts Have High Level of Community Spread of Coronavirus

Bratislava, October 7 (TASR) – There is a high level of community spread of novel coronavirus in 38 districts, Health Analysis Institute head Matej Misik said at a press conference on Thursday, noting that in five districts, the positivity of PCR tests is higher than 25 percent.

The number of trips ambulances made to positive patients increased again, especially in Zilina, Kosice and Presov regions. “The worst situation in terms of hospitalisations and trips [to patients] is in Zilina region,” pointed out Misik. According to him, hospitals in this region reach a 30-percent occupancy rate compared to the maximum from the previous wave. Hospitals are at half the maximum of the second wave in the Kysuce area (Zilina region), Stara Lubovna and Bardejov districts (both Presov region).

Misik noted that a quarter of people tested positive were persons under the age of 18 last week, although they have a 19-percent share in the population. The highest seven-day incidence of PCR tests was in Stara Lubovna district. According to Misik, the reason for the deteriorating epidemic situation is weddings and celebrations to which people travel across Slovakia in combination with low vaccination rates in the affected areas.

Approximately 15,000 people received the first shot of a vaccine last week. “This is a slight decrease compared to the week before,” he said, adding that 185,000 people over the age of 70 are still unvaccinated.

Sixteen districts will be considered dark red (a second-degree warning) according to the COVID-19 automaton as of next Monday (October 11), while 43 districts will be treated as red (a first-degree warning), 20 as orange (alert) and none as green (monitoring), the Government decided at its session on Wednesday.