TIRANA – Yuri Kim, the US Ambassador to Albania, where the spread of the coronavirus pandemic is taking worrying proportions, has joined her voice with many local authorities and medical specialists in the appeal to citizens to wear face masks to put under control the disease which took the life of four more people and 93 infected persons were confirmed on Saturday.
“I’ll wear a Face with a medical mask for you if you’ll wear a Face with a medical mask for me. I know I’m guilty of not wearing one sometimes, but it’s never too late to do the right thing. Let’s beat COVID together!” was the urge of Ambassador Kim in an appeal posted on Twitter.
The Ambassador launched that call when the number of new cases of coronavirus continues to increase throughout Albania, and the situation in the healthcare system is aggravating something which PM Edi Rama and his cabinet members feared most.
Albania has the worst debilitated health system in Europe and the lockdown period, as some medical specialists say, was not exploited to upgrade the state of the healthcare system by creating more medical facilities to cope with the expected impact of the easing of the lockdown. Now when the disease is paying havoc with Albania the PM has disappeared and the war rhetoric has remained something of the past. As a matter of fact the real fight is being fought nowadays as 93 registered cases is the highest figure of the infected people since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 9.
With the latest 4 victims confirmed in the last 24 hours, the total number of fatalities has mounted to 95.
“Testing done on suspects over the last 24 hours has confirmed 93 new cases of COVID-19. There were 62 cases in Tirana, 6 in Shkodra, 4 in GJirokastra, while the toll varied from 3 to 1 in Durres, Puka , Korca, Mirdita, Tropoja, Malesi e MAdhe, Kruja, Fier, Lezha, Kavaja, Rrogozhina, Berat and Tepelena,” said the daily bulletin issued by the Ministry of Health.
With a pessimistic note Health Minister Ogerta Manastirliu revealed on Saturday that the healthcare system is dealing with the highest influx of coronavirus patients. “It must be worked hard to break down the chain of the infection in active hotbeds,” she said, adding that there are 900 positive COVID cases being treated in houses where they are quarantined.
Currently it is reported that there are 72 hospitalized patients and 8 of them are in intensive care while 4 intubated at the infection diseases hospital in Tirana./argumentum.al
