By the end of February, all 21 Covid-19 testing centers of the Municipal Health Department of Rio de Janeiro will be closed, due to low demand. The municipal public network, which carried out 107,000 tests a day, at the peak of transmission of the disease, caused by the Ômicron variant, currently performs an average of 10,000 tests.
In addition, the positivity rate for the disease, which reached about 50%, is at 8%. “This is our lowest rate since the introduction of the Ômicron variant. As a result, the number of serious cases and requests for hospital admissions are practically reaching zero admissions per day,” said Municipal Health Secretary Daniel Soranz.
The improvement in the epidemiological scenario in Rio also led the city to revert 400 beds that were intended for those infected by the virus to treat other diseases. According to the panel of the Municipal Health Department, 187 people are hospitalized with Covid-19 this Tuesday morning (15) in hospitals in the network. The index has already reached over 950.
“This shows that the epidemiological scenario is increasingly favorable. Our expectation is that the Ômicron variant will continue to decline over the next two weeks. And the testing centers, all of them, are being gradually demobilized,” said Soranz.
Despite the improvement, the secretary maintains the call for immunization. According to Soranz, 670,000 cariocas are overdue for their booster dose.
“We need to vaccinate around 40,000 cariocas a day with a booster dose for us to maintain this balance. The secretary’s concern is that over time, after vaccination, she loses protection and we can suffer consequences even from a variant that has already passed through the city of Rio de Janeiro”, explained the secretary.
Source: CNN Brasil
