May 5, 2020 - Since this morning’s final count until 4.45 pm, the Institute of Public Health (IJZ) analyzed 97 samples of which none came back positive to COVID-19. The number of infected persons, since the beginning of the epidemic, is 324.
The director of the Clinical Centre of Montenegro (KCCG), Dr. Jevto Eraković said that as of today, 49 days since the first COVID-19 patient was hospitalized in the KCCG, there were no more such patients in that medical center.
Erakovic said that 74 hospitalized patients had been cured so far, of whom 50 in the KCCG. He mentioned a positive example of a patient who spent 33 days in the KCCG, hooked to a ventilator for most of that time, but recovered in the end. Also, one patient who met all criteria to be categorized as critical is now in Graz for treatment. It was jointly assessed with the Graz clinic that there was no need for any other patients to be sent there. He also stressed that over the past 49 days, other patients weren’t neglected, as shown by the following data: The KCCG admitted 1,633 patients, more than 152,000 samples were tested, 271 surgeries carried out, 292 babies delivered, 5,775 patients examined in the emergency room, etc.
The deputy director of the Institute of Public Health, Dr. Senad Begić, said that the total number of COVID-19 patients in Montenegro was still 324. Podgorica had the highest number of registered cases, 164. Since the beginning of the epidemic until yesterday, almost 8,500 lab analyses for coronavirus were carried out, which places the testing rate in Montenegro well above 10,000 per one million inhabitants.
He also said it was important that there were no epidemiological indicators that the latest coronavirus infection case in Bijelo Polje had any secondary positive contacts. The patient is in isolation and represents no hazard for others. Begić said that more than 1,500 samples were tested in the last week, with only a couple coming back positive.
Begić said that the number of calls to the 1616 phone line dropped, in comparison to the 10,000 calls at the very beginning of the epidemic. There were between 340 and 350 calls a day, on average, during the height of the epidemic. The call center will soon start doing shorter working hours to take the pressure of the employees, he said.
The measure of opening borders will be among the last to be terminated, Begic emphasized. As it were, a negative PCR test doesn’t imply that a person is not in the incubation stage, which is why it is necessary to gradually develop a plan of destinations to be opened and the conditions that have to be met to be granted entrance to Montenegro. Begic said that the unstable epidemiological situation in the countries of the region and Europe was still an obstacle in terms of opening borders but that the possibility of allowing necessary journeys would be considered.
Begić thinks that the authorities will be cautious with opening kindergartens because they can be hazardous not only for children but parents and other members of children’s families as well. Begic said that the assessment of the incubation period is based on patients’ memory, which is an unreliable method, with the most prolonged incubation period recorded in literature being 28-29 days. When it comes to cases for which the source of infection wasn’t accurately established, there were 34 such patients. That is a little over 10% of all cases. Begic said that we should all start getting accustomed to new circumstances and make adjustments for the new reality, which the COVID-19 global crisis brought. He said that this was precisely why the decision to make wearing masks mandatory was made.
This brief is kindly prepared for you by Arhimed & Represent Communications.
