To enhance the immune system against the ever-growing Covid-19 infection, patients with compromised immune system should sign up for a second booster vaccine jab, suggests chief physician of Latvian Centre of Infectious Diseases (LIC) Baiba Rozentāle.
She explained that this applies to people who have had organ transplantation performed recently, as well as AIDS patients and those suffering from lymphoproliferative disorders or cancer.
Rozentāle reported that currently there are 62 patients being treated for Covid-19 at Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital.
Of the existing Covid-19 patients at the hospital, for 18 people Covid-19 is the main diagnosis and for 44 it is a side-diagnosis.
LIC, which primarily treats patients for whom Covid-19 is the main diagnosis, had a total of 24 patients this morning.
«I can say that Covid-19 as a side-diagnosis is generally an accidental discovery, because every person is obligated to undergo a Covid-19 test regardless of their diagnosis when they are admitted to hospital.»
«It is no secret that people suffer from sugar diabetes, metabolic syndrome, which are some of the main factors that cause a severe Covid-19 infection case. Fortunately, the number of such patients is low,» said Rozentāle.
According to her, mostly hospitals receive Covid-19 patients older than 60 years and a couple of younger patients with Covid-19 as a side-diagnosis.
There have been no deaths caused by Covid-19 in the last two days.
Rozentāle said the current situation, when there aren’t many Covid-19 patients hospitalised, is normal. Nevertheless, she did say this infection is similar flu, adenovirus, contagious runny nose is seasonal autumn and winter infection.
Most people don’t have immunity to it. Moreover, the virus looks for an organism with a weak immune system to stay in.
«What is important now is that the number of patients with damaged lungs is going down. Lung damage is not gone complete, but it is not two-thirds or completely damaged as it is for pneumonia. We also have no oxygen-dependent patients, which is something we had previously observed with Delta variant of Covid-19,» said Rozentāle.
«Covid-19 has changed after Omicron appeared. It is a weaker variant, and is basically a seasonal infection at this point,» said the physician.
She says when autumn comes the number of Covid-19 infection cases will increase. Recommendations from the World Health Organisation and European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) for second booster jab are expected, as this measure is already recommended to patients who have a weak immune system.
As for epidemiological restrictions at the hospital, she stressed that they mainly apply to visits.