Doctors Urge Covid, Flu Infected to Not Self-Medicate
Days after New Year celebrations, combined with low temperatures and indoors, as well as the new threatening forms of Covid19, have led to an increase in numbers, as Covid, flu and other respiratory viruses are circulating intensively in Albania.
Similar signs make many people neglect to consult a specialist and turn to pharmacies, but infectious diseases doctor, Arben Pilaca has called on the citizens to not self-medicate.
"It makes no difference that if the flu lasts 3 days, Corona… more… people do not make the mistake of going to the pharmacy to take antibiotics and cortisone”, he said, adding that the situation can be managed by following simple measures to start pandemic.
What is needed is increased hygiene in the environments where we live and work, isolation of those who have respiratory diseases, ventilation of the premises and placement of masks indoors.
Meanwhile, there are thousands of new cases, and the only unchanging indicator is hospitalizations. Of the 1648 newly identified cases, few or none of them presented the need for specialized hospital service.
In the only treatment structure, the Infectious Diseases Hospital, there are 106 patients, one less compared to Wednesday and fatalities occur at the same levels.
Five victims, aged between 59 and 80, were registered yesterday. Despite the lack of tests, in many health centers, according to the weekly bulletin of the Ministry of Health, about eight thousand tests were performed, a number that was not performed even in the darkest period of the pandemic, last year.
The increase in infections for white shirts comes as a result of the new variant, but also from the period of festive gatherings at the end of 2021.
But the good news, according to Ilir Alimehmeti, an epidemiologist, is that the new variant is much milder than "Delta", which translates into less casualties and casualties.
"The counting of new cases does not make much sense, we are interested in the clinical side, do they need a hospital. "There are 107 such people so far and these are potentially 'Delta' cases, for those 'Omicron' we have to wait for about 2 weeks", underlines Alimehmeti.
Unlike other coronavirus variants, 'Omicron' has the typical signs of seasonal flu. With the circulation of respiratory viruses in this period, it becomes more difficult to identify the virus.
On the other hand, the increase of infections in the ranks of vaccinated as well as re-infections after the release of "Omicron" has become a fact, as it is widely encountered in many countries around the world, where vaccination is in over 70%.
The well-known doctor appeals to the government to show caution with the austerity measures, while he considers the compulsory vaccination wrong, which, according to him, produces the opposite effect, leading to the falsification of the "Greenpass" document.