Minister of Health Ala Nemerenco said the Republic of Moldova is currently having few cases of SARS-COV2, but the people should further wear masks in closed places. The probability of a new wave of COVID-9 depends on the way in which the virus mutates. Studies show there is a new Omicron subvariant, but this is not very aggressive, IPN reports.

The official noted the numbers of cases of COVID-19 and of deaths caused by this decrease daily. Even if the epidemiological situation improved, the washing of hands, maintaining of distancing and wearing of masks in closed and crowded places should become a routine.

“We now have a respite. The infection rate is only 43 cases per 100,000 a week. This means the whole country is on red alert. We have only four settlements on yellow alert, but with small figures slightly over the limit between ‘yellow’ and ‘green’. We do not fully know how this virus can behave. The rise in the number of cases in some countries is due to the fact that the restrictions, including mask wearing, were lifted too early. In the Republic of Moldova, the wearing of masks in crowded places, on public transport continues to be mandatory. The abandonment of mask wearing led to an increase in seasonal viral infections in some countries. We also have a slight rise in the number of cases of viral infections,” Ala Nemerenco stated in the program “Black Box” on TV8 channel.

As the number of infections in other countries grew, the minister said a new wave of COVID-9 is possible. The new variants of Omicron are expected to be highly transmissible.

“The next Omicron subvariant is BA 2. It is more contagious, but I would say it is equally inoffensive. They anticipated that two new types of subvariants will appear. One of them was already named Deltacron in the scientific community. This is likely to be more contagious than Omicron, but can be moderately severe. The second subvariant could be Midercron and this is expected to be highly contagious, but as mild as a clinical form,” said Ala Nemerenco.

As regards vaccination in the Republic of Moldova, the minister said the policy pursued earlier in Moldova fully discouraged vaccination.

According to official reports, the immunization rate among the general population in Moldova is of over 31% with the first dose and of over 30% with the completed series. So far Moldova received 2 923 860 vaccine doses. Immunization against COVID-19 is free and is recommended by all the national and international health facilities.