NCDC Releases Third Report on COVID-19 Outbreak in Georgia

The National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC) has published its third data-rich analysis of COVID-19 spread in Georgia.

NCDC’s report tracks the progress – and the decline – of coronavirus, shedding new light on the size and scope of the outbreak.

Civil.ge offers a quick summary of insights and highlights the most important revelations from the report.

Georgia reported its first case of infection on February 26. To date, confirmed cases has reached 1155, while the death toll stands at 17. Total recoveries amount to 929.

COVID-19 patient profile

Georgia’s chief public health authority provided a breakdown of data collected from 980 patients treated for a disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Roughly equal numbers of men and women – 499 (50.9%) and 481 (49.1%), respectively – were infected by the virus.

The average age of patients stood at 42.6, while the median age – stood at 43. The youngest patient was just 9 months old, while the eldest was 90. Most recorded cases – 534 (54.5%) out of 980 patients – fall into the 30-59 age category.

The average length of stay in a hospital – period from the day of admission to the day of discharge – amounted to 21 days.

According to the report, the most common COVID-19 symptoms experienced by Georgian patients are fever (57.3%), asthenia (34.5%), cough (24.6%), sore throat (17%), and headache (14.5%).

In the meantime, out of 980 coronavirus-positive patients, around 11 % were asymptomatic.

The most frequent comorbidities for COVID-19 patients were hypertension (15.5%), cardiovascular diseases (7.4%), and diabetes (6.8%).

Mild cases accounted for 58.8% of all cases, 30.8% were moderate cases, while severe and critical cases equaled 7.8% and 2.8%, respectively.

Southern Kvemo Kartli region tops the list of regions sorted by incidence rate. The number for Kvemo Kartli stands at 69.3 per 100,000 persons, followed by Tbilisi – 26.0, Adjara – 16.3, Racha-Lechkhumi-Kvemo Svaneti region – 13.5 and Shida Kartli -8.2. The lowest number was revealed in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti (2.8) and Imereti regions (2.4).

272 cases out of 980 were imported from abroad. 127 cases (46.6%) were imported from Russia, followed by Turkey – 23 (8.4%), Azerbaijan – 22 (8%), Armenia – 21 (7.7%).

How contagious is the virus?

As of July 11, the rate of cumulative incidence – measuring disease frequency during a given period of time in the population – hovered around 19 infected persons per 100,000 people.

Effective reproduction number, another key benchmark wielded by epidemiologists, equaled 3,88 after two weeks since the occurrence of the first COVID-19 case in Georgia and equaled 0.93 at the end of the reporting period.

To put it simply, a single infected individual is now likely to transmit COVID-19 to less than one person on average. The number has risen significantly compared to 0.44 recorded at the end of the previous reporting period.

Mortality attributed to coronavirus is tiny in numbers – 15 deaths recorded (up to July 11), case fatality rate sitting at 1.5 %.

In the 93% of fatal cases, the disease was severed with underlying pneumonia. NCDC reported that all deceased COVID patients had various comorbidities, including cardiovascular diseases for the absolute majority of patients, as well as chronic lung diseases (40%).

It comes as no surprise that COVID-19 had no bearing on excess mortality rate in Georgia (deaths in the first half of 2020 decreased by 7% and 1 % compared to the same periods in 2019 and 2018, respectively).

Taking stock of COVID-19 testing

From January 30 to July 11, 147,700 PCR tests, among them 142,577 primary ones, have been carried out in public health, clinical and commercial laboratories to diagnose COVID-19 infection – with 26.4% performed by NCDC’s Lugar Research Center.

The highest number of tests – 34,392 – were performed in the second half of June. Most tests daily – on average 3125 – were conducted in the first ten days of July.

Notably, the test-positivity rate – showing the ratio between who got tested for the virus and who tested positive for it – varied from 9.5 % in late March to 0.3 % in early May and to 0.7% as of July 11.

NCDC estimated that as of July 11, 13.2 % of patients (129 persons) with confirmed COVID-19 infection were healthcare personnel.

As stated in the report, NCDC’s epidemiologists have traced 5,200 close contacts of infected patients, who have been placed under quarantine or self-isolated.

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)