Cluster effect
By Anastasia Sokhadze
Friday, April 17
On March 1st, a 44-year-old man returned to Georgia from Italy, who is mentioned as patient #4. Patient #4, who is connected to the country’s first large and high-profile cluster, traveled to Italy with friends and family. At that time, Italy had the highest number of confirmed cases at more than 1,500 infected.
A person who traveled with Patient #4 spread the virus at work, In 10 days, 12 infected people were found in the ‘Italian cluster.’ A disease cluster, is a group of similar cases observed at the same site at the same time. Almost a month after the return of the 4th patient and his group to Georgia, 30 new cases of infection were registered in one day in Georgia. Some of them, according to Amiran Gamkrelidze, director of the Center for Disease Control, are still connected to the Italian cluster.
Numerous countries that have been hit hard by the pandemic have reported common stories when social, cultural, or religious gatherings became one source of infection for hundreds of people. Such clusters play a key role in the global spread of the virus.
According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, at least 12 different clusters are registered in Georgia: Iran, Italy, Marneuli, National Bank, Kobuleti.
The Kobuleti cluster is connected to a woman from Batumi, who has been infected from an unknown source, who visited her parents and sister in one of the villages of Kobuleti for 10 days. As of April 15th, the Kobuleti cluster includes 29 people.
The National Bank of Georgia said on April 2nd that seven employees tested positive for COVID-19 which was later called the National Bank cluster. On April 6th, Priest Giorgi Papava visited the Timi Clinic for analysis. Within five days, the new Coronavirus was confirmed to one of the clinic's doctors. This was later called the Priest’s cluster.
The most important holiday in the Christian calendar, Easter, will cause mass gathering despite the high risk of the spread of the new coronavirus. The mass gathering of people in churches may create a much larger cluster, resulting in people transmitting the virus to others.
