NCDC Releases Fourth Report on COVID-19 Outbreak in Georgia

On October 5, the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health of Georgia (NCDC) has published its fourth data-rich analysis of COVID-19 spread in Georgia.

NCDC’s report tracks the progress of coronavirus, shedding new light on the size and scope of the outbreak, from the date of the first recorded case, 26 February, up to September 30.

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 have reached 9,245, while the death toll stands at 58. Total recoveries amount to 4,887.

COVID-19 patient profile

Georgia’s chief public health authority provided a breakdown of data collected from 6,640 patients treated for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Roughly equal numbers of men and women 51% and 49% respectively – were infected by the virus. The youngest patient was just one month old, while the eldest was 95. Most recorded cases – 51.5% – fall into the 30-59 age category.

According to the report, the most common COVID-19 symptoms experienced by Georgian patients are fever (50.3%), asthenia (30.4%), cough (20.9%), sore throat (16%), headache (14.1%).

In the meantime, out of the 6,640 coronavirus-positive patients, 36.2% were asymptomatic.

The most frequent comorbidities for COVID-19 patients were hypertension (14.7%), cardiovascular diseases (7%), and diabetes (6.8%).

Mild cases accounted for 56.1% of all cases, 34.7% were moderate cases, while severe and critical cases equaled 7% and 2.2%, respectively.

How contagious is the virus?

As of September 30, the rate of cumulative incidence – measuring disease frequency during a given period of time in the population – was at 178.6 infected persons per 100,000, up considerably from the 19 infected persons per 100,000 at the end of the previous reporting period. Another important measure, the 14-day cumulative incidence was 99.7 per 100,000 persons.  To break the number down by regions, it came in at 47.6 in Adjara; 6.6 in Imereti; 6.2 in Guria; 3.5 in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti; 3.2 in Tbilisi.

From the occurrence of the first COVID-19 case in Georgia to September 30, the effective reproduction number, another key benchmark wielded by epidemiologists, equaled 1.45.

To put it simply, a single infected individual is now likely to transmit COVID-19 to more than one person on average. The number has risen significantly from 0.93, recorded at the end of the previous reporting period on July 11.

Mortality attributed to coronavirus is still low in numbers – 39 deaths recorded (up to September 30), case fatality sitting at 0.59%, down from previously reported 1.5%.

In 84.6% 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 majority of patients (58.9%), as well as diabetes and chronic lung diseases (23%).

COVID-19 had no bearing on excess mortality in Georgia; overall mortality (deaths by any cause) in the first eight months of 2020 decreased by 4% and 2% compared to the same periods in 2019 and 2018, respectively.

Taking Stock of COVID-19 testing

From January 30 to September 30, 658,736 PCR tests, among them 642,541 primary ones, have been carried out in public health, clinical and commercial laboratories to diagnose COVID-19 infection – with laboratories operating under NCDC, including Lugar Lab, performing 34% of the tests.

The highest number of tests – 267,629 – were performed in September, with 8,921 daily tests on average, more than double the amount of the highest amount of daily tests during the previous reporting period, which amounted to 3125 in the first ten days of July.

During the reporting period, up to September 30, the positivity rate for the tests amounted to 1.02%. The highest positivity rate was reported in September, totaling 1.8%, up from the 0.7% rate during the last reporting period. Regarding confirmed cases, the majority of infections – 62.5% – were reported in the Adjara region.

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