TIRANA, Jan. 13 – Albania is at its pandemic peak in terms of infections, says a group of health experts the government has tasked with setting measures to fight the pandemic.
“We now have the highest incidence, the peak, in two years,” said Eugena Tomini, an epidemiologist and member of the group.
Meeting Thursday to assess the situation they said no new measures were necessary but urged the public to obey and seek the enforcement of current measures, which include mandatory masking indoors and limit the number of people that can congregate.
The Technical Committee of Experts said there would be no blanket school closure, as per recommendations of the World Health Organizations.
The experts said there are three variants of COVID-19 circulating in Albania, with Omicron appearing to be behind the rapid increase in cases, as elsewhere in Europe.
They urged people to get vaccinated and boosted.
“We had high vaccination rates this week with the first dose, doubling the increase, and higher awareness. We reached 52 percent vaccination with the first dose, 47 percent with both doses and 7.7 percent with three doses. We need more,” said Silva Bino, another member of the expert group.
New cases have risen sharply in the past two weeks in Albania, with the seven-day average being four times higher than it was in December.
Hospitalizations are also up slightly, but not at the levels seen in the previous winter, indicating vaccinations are working to prevent severe disease in many. Omicron is also believed to be slightly less severe, according the international data.
COVID-19 hospital director Najada Çomo said there are young people in hospitals and the vast majority of admitted patients are unvaccinated.
“Only 3.4 percent of those in hospitals today have had one or two doses of the vaccines,” Çomo said.
Tirana continues to be the part of the country with the highest number of infections, with 8,073 active cases, up from 3,741 from just a week ago.
Actual active case numbers could be as much as five times higher, experts say.
