More than 485 confirmed Coronavirus cases in Georgia
By Nika Gamtsemlidze
Monday, April 27
According to Paata Imnadze, Deputy Director of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health, has stated that there is no need for aggressive testing in the country since the situation is still under control. As he said, until today, every decision that was made by the team worked very well and they were able to keep the situation controlled.
Imnadze said that more than 12,000 PCR tests have been conducted in Georgia today; Also, 5-6 thousand quick tests on antibodies. He also noted that antigen-based tests have been performed but did not specify how many.
Imnadze also spoke about the sensitivity of rapid antibody tests and said that often, when the test shows a severe infection, the PCR test does not confirm the result.
“Antigen is a fast method, but still an instrumental method. Its sensitivity is quite good, not like PCR, but not bad. As for the rapid test of antibodies, recently the quality has improved with these tests, although their sensitivity and specificity are not high,” said Imnadze.
Imnadze also noted that there are currently 12,000 PCR tests in the country, and they are expected to replenish supplies on Monday or Tuesday.
“We hope to increase the number of tests according to the epidemiological situation and increase it in May, probably during the middle of the month, and we hope to have 1500 to 2000 tests daily,” he added.
The first case of the novel Coronavirus was reported in Georgia two months ago, on February 26th. Since then, the number has been rising steadily. Around the world, there are almost 3 million reported cases of the Coronavirus reported and more than 200,000 people have died.
According to the official data, the most cases are reported in the US, where the number of the infected is almost one million. Following the US is Spain, and then Italy.
The virus has originally spread from the Wuhan region of China, where, as of today, there are only 801 active cases. In total, China has reported more than 82 thousand cases of the virus.
