Over 600 vaccination rooms, 800 vaccine freezers and 3 thousand thermal containers prepared in Kazakhstan — Ministry of Healthcare

The sanitary and epidemiological situation in the country was considered at a government session chaired by Prime Minister Askar Mamin. Minister of Healthcare Alexey Tsoy reported on the current situation, the progress of vaccination of the population and the measures taken to fulfill the instructions of the Head of State Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

According to the minister of healthcare, the situation with morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 in the world remains tense. To date, more than 130 million cases of CVI have been registered in 221 countries of the world, the increase in the incidence is 0.5. More than 2.8 million people died, the mortality rate was 2.2%.

After a slight decrease in global morbidity statistics in January 2021, a steady upward trend has been established since February. In almost all countries of the American hemisphere and Europe, there is a high incidence rate, and in some countries such as France, Sweden, Poland, Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, etc., from 400 to 800 cases per 1 million population are detected per day.

In Kazakhstan on April 6, 2021, 256,837 patients with a positive result of COVID-19 and 50,839 cases with CVI- were registered. According to the matrix for assessing the epidemiological situation, 7 regions are in the red zone: the cities of Nur-Sultan and Almaty, Atyrau, West Kazakhstan, Almaty, Akmola and Aktobe regions. At the same time, the cities of Almaty and Nur-Sultan are in the red zone for 28 days, West Kazakhstan region for 20 days, Atyrau region — for the last two weeks, Aktobe and Almaty — for the last week, Akmola — for 1 day.

There are 2 regions in the yellow zone: the city of Shymkent and the Karaganda region.

The remaining 8 regions are in the green zone.

“I want to note that in March compared to February, there is an increase in the incidence of 30%, so up to 1,800 cases per day were registered. For 5 days in April, 9,983 cases were registered, up to 2,000 patients are registered per day. The increase in incidence is associated with the circulation of British and South African strains. In this regard, regional akims need to take immediate measures to provide infectious beds and mobile teams of primary health care,” Tsoy said.

Taking into account the epidemiological situation in April, there is an increase in the daily number of tests up to 57 thousand tests per day, which is 50% of the available daily laboratory capacity and in comparison with February there is an increase of 1.6 times.

As of April 6, 2021, 275 infectious diseases hospitals with a bed capacity of 28,730 beds are used to provide medical care to patients with CVI in the republic. The employment of infectious diseases hospitals is 36%, intensive care — 22%. The greatest workload of infectious beds is noted in the West Kazakhstan region, Nur-Sultan, the Almaty region, in the city of Almaty.

As noted by Tsoy, the ministry has developed an electronic system for monitoring the employment of the bed fund to the level of each medical organization in the region. This allows us to respond in a timely manner and deploy additional hospitals.

"In the regions there is a plan for the deployment of infectious beds, when 70% of the workload of existing infectious hospitals is reached, the reserve of infectious beds has been increased from 51 thousand to 60 thousand, reserve facilities will be involved, while the provision of planned specialized medical care will continue," the minister said.

According to the World Health Organization, the British strain has been identified in 130 countries of the world, the South African — in 80, and the Brazilian — in 45 countries.

“In order to identify new mutations, we on an ongoing basis conduct a genetic study of CVI strains circulating on the territory of the republic. So, in March on the territory of the republic the circulation of British and South African strains was revealed. Recent studies show that the British variant of the coronavirus is associated with a higher probability of hospitalization and death than the original strain. The Brazilian strain is not considered more lethal, but it spreads more easily than the original COVID-19 strain,” explained Tsoy.

It was also found that the British strain of coronavirus is spreading faster than the strain of last year by 1.7 times, South African — by 1.5 times and Brazilian — by 2 times.

At the same time, the increase in the reproductive number may increase from 1.1 to 1.9, which will gradually lead to the dominance of these strains.

It should be noted that the restrictive measures adopted by the government since 2020 made it possible to prevent the import of new viruses within 6 months.

Tsoy specified that the monitoring of new strains continues. From February 1 of this year the vaccination campaign against CVI continues. From April 1, the categories of persons subject to vaccination have been expanded. Schedules are drawn up by local executive bodies.

“To date, 194,706 citizens have been vaccinated with the first component, 72 110 citizens — with the second component. The indicator per 1,000 population in the republic was 10.3,” the minister said.

In pursuance of the instructions of the Head of State, 2 million doses of the vaccine are expected to be delivered in April, which will cover 23.4% of the contingent. According to the immunization plan, the volumes and preliminary terms of delivery of vaccines to the regions have been determined.

Taking into account the ongoing negotiations with manufacturers in Kazakhstan, it is planned to receive more than 6 million doses of vaccines in the first half of the year, which will cover 64% of the subject contingent.

These volumes will make it possible to maximize the contingent to be vaccinated against CVI and the availability of persons wishing to be vaccinated free of charge.

To carry out vaccination in organized groups and places of mass gathering of people, mobile vaccination points will be used.

In this regard, the akims of the regions, the cities of Almaty, Nur-Sultan and Shymkent need to ensure:

  • the organization of temporary vaccination points / teams in crowded places to increase the coverage of the population with vaccination against CVI;
  • a sufficient amount of refrigeration equipment for storing the vaccine and thermal containers for vaccinations by mobile vaccination teams.

As the head of the department reported, in February of this year. By the decision of the IAC, the Comprehensive Plan for Immunizing the Population against COVID-19 was approved.

The production and delivery of the vaccine is carried out in compliance with all GMP and GDP standards, as well as the cold chain.

More than 9 thousand medical workers have been trained on vaccination against CVI. More than 600 vaccination rooms, 800 units of freezing equipment and 3 thousand thermal containers have been prepared. By the end of March, the availability of vaccination for 300 thousand citizens was ensured and 11.3 million syringes were purchased.

“Along with the aforementioned additional supplies of vaccines and the need to open vaccination stations, we are working on the purchase of another 14.5 million units of syringes,” Tsoy said.

In order to maintain a balance between the fight against the epidemic and the preservation of business activity, digital technologies will be actively introduced in the country:

  • the developed Anti-covid Passport to record and monitor vaccinated persons;
  • scaling of the Ashyq project and its integration with the Anti-covid Passport to ensure the functioning of existing business entities and the resumption of prohibited activities;
  • introduction of Heat maps based on anonymized data of cellular operators to increase the efficiency and transparency of the monitoring groups.

Additional criteria of the matrix for assessing the epidemiological situation in the country with an emphasis on the employment of the bed capacity will also be developed and submitted for approval to the IAC.

The complex application of these technologies, developed on the basis of international best practices, will increase the effectiveness of anti-epidemic measures.

It should be noted that in accordance with the instructions of the Head of State in the regions, an inventory of the equipment of all healthcare organizations is being carried out, incl. intensive care units.

In April 2021, this work will be completed, retrofitting will be carried out according to its results.

At the same time, since the beginning of the pandemic, the supply of basic resuscitation equipment for infectious hospitals has been brought to 100% (3.4 thousand ventilators and 40 thousand oxygen stations were purchased). At the same time, 22% of intensive care beds are currently occupied.

In general, strengthening the material and technical base will prevent the borrowing of equipment between medical organizations when the epidemiological situation develops according to a realistic forecast.

For further equipping medical organizations with equipment, 85 billion tenge will be allocated from the republican budget for 2021-2022. The work on equipping the intensive care units will be continued by the regions on a systematic basis.

As Tsoy noted, today the country is fully provided with the necessary volume of medicines and medical devices.

“In hospitals, a monthly supply of drugs for the treatment of CVI has been formed, in the warehouses of IC Pharmacy and in pharmacies — a two-month supply. In all regions, stabilization funds of medicines for 18 billion tenge have been created. In order to reduce the burden on hospitals and pharmacies, 5 types of drugs for the treatment of CVI on an outpatient basis have been issued free of charge since August with a supply of 1 million patients,” the head of the department said.

Joint work with the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition has been carried out, as a result, the cost of 232 antioxidants has decreased on average by 27%.

Medical masks are sold in free sale at an average price of 20 tenge, a sufficient stock of 21.5 million pieces has been formed in warehouses.

Medical organizations are fully provided with personal protective equipment, the regional akimats have formed a 3-month supply.

At the same time, together with the Ministry of Information and Social Development, a large-scale information and explanatory work will be built among the population about the importance of vaccination and the refutation of inaccurate information. A special Media Plan is being implemented.

“For this, the entire potential of information resources has been mobilized, incl. social networks and messengers. It is planned to involve all television channels and print media with an emphasis on the importance of vaccination, involve opinion leaders, experts and media personalities to show positive examples, publish reliable information to refute and fight fakes,” Tsoy summed up.

In his speech at the government session, Akim of Aktobe region Ondasyn Urazalin noted that over the past three months, the number of coronavirus cases among the population has increased by 4 times. If in January there were 265 cases, then in March the number of cases exceeded 1,000 people. Among children, the incidence increased 2.7 times.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the akim, 5,729 cases have been registered. To date, 4,735 patients (82.5%) have recovered.

In infectious diseases hospitals of the region, 463 people are being treated, including 26 patients in the intensive care unit.

Due to the aggravation of the epidemiological situation, 420 additional beds from the reserve were opened.

Currently, 16 medical organizations operate 1,115 infectious beds, including 133 intensive care beds, 2,488 beds are in reserve (including 268 intensive care beds), which will be opened as needed according to the epidemiological situation. A total of 20 stationary organizations will be involved.

Oxygen supply: 80.3% (2,895) of 3,603 beds are provided with oxygen. An oxygen station was installed and operated in a hospital with 500 beds, and a centralized oxygen system was installed additionally in 4 hospitals.

At the outpatient level, 173 mobile teams were formed in 35 medical organizations of the region. For the treatment of mild forms of COVID-19, 560 patients were provided free of charge with 5 types of drugs in the amount of 7 million tenge. The balance of medicines in medical organizations is 11 million tenge.

“At the stationary level, there is a two-month supply of medicines and protective equipment,” noted Urazalin.

Currently, in the region, according to the akim, testing for coronavirus infection is carried out on the basis of 10 laboratories. The daily laboratory capacity is up to 5,380 tests.

To date, 443,176 PCR tests have been carried out.

Since February of this year 24,100 doses of Sputnik V (Gam-Covid-Vac) vaccine were delivered to the region. A total of 8,369 people were vaccinated, including the first component — 6,393 people and the second component — 1,976 people.

Special attention, according to the akim, is paid to the issues of control and monitoring over the observance of the sanitary and epidemiological regime. During 2,724 raids, 47 monitoring groups covered 13,421 objects. As a result of inspections, 192 violations were revealed and appropriate measures were taken to address them.

At the end of the speech, the akim noted that the epidemiological situation and vaccination are under his personal strict control, and in the future the work will be strengthened.

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