Restrictions and booster shots would reduce mortality and hospitalizations - Trojanskis

RIGA - If booster shots were administered to 80,000 residents a week in Latvia, and restrictions were in force, mortality would reduce by 17 percent and hospitalizations with Covid-19 by 26 percent, said Nikita Trojanskis, an epidemiologist and specialist in the Vaccination Project Division of the National Health Service, said at the government meeting today.

If administration of booster shots grows to 80,000 people a week, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals at the the same time will reduce by 38 percent and almost 400 deaths will be prevented, he said.

He underscored that booster shots improve the situation not only by reducing hospitalizations, but also leaving a short-term impact on transmission of the infection.

The epidemiologist said that there is still much unknown about the Covid-19 omicron variant. If it is twice as infectious as delta, then in late January or early February, more than 25,000 people will be infected a day in Latvia and there will be more than 6,000 Covid-19 patients in hospitals at the same time.

As at January 2, 2022, Latvia had confirmed 644 cases of the Covid-19 omicron variant. By January 5, the number of confirmed omicron cases in Latvia had grown to 1,419.

On Wednesday, Latvia confirmed 1,994 new Covid-19 cases and recorded 12 Covid-19 related deaths, according to information released by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).