Amiran Gamkrelidze: We have a peak - whether there will be a downward phase or not, we have to judge based on Tuesday and Wednesday infection data

According to Amiran Gamkrelidze, director of the National Center for Disease Control, the epidemic situation is at its peak.

As Gamkrelidze told InterPressNews, it will be possible in a few days to discuss whether the COVID situation will go into a downward phase.

"We are at a certain peak. A plateau - we have these types of indicators. Over the last week, the daily number of infections ranges from 18-24 thousand. We think we are at the peak. Whether there will be a downward phase or not, we have to judge based on Tuesday and Wednesday infection data," Amiran Gamkrelidze said.

As for the mortality rate, Gamkrelidze expects that the mortality rate will decrease. He said the number of COVID patients whose condition is severe is not increasing.

"I think the mortality rate will be gradually reduced, because today there were 208,745 active cases, of which 5,840 are in hospitals and the number of severely ill patients does not increase - it ranges from 900 to 1100. Also, the number of patients in intensive care who need artificial respiration is not increasing. In general, the percentage of need for hospitalization from active cases is severely reduced - within 3%, which indicates that Omicron is lighter than Delta, but since the number of cases is very high, of course, it is expected that the mortality rate won't be decreased so fast. The cumulative number of people is quite high - this is what is registered, but what has been laboratory-proven should be multiplied by at least 2.5. Today the pressure is mainly on the outpatient and laboratory sectors. There is less pressure on the hospital sector. This gives us hope that the mortality rate should be gradually reduced", said Amiran Gamkrelidze.