RIGA, Sept 14 (LETA) - Although Covid-19 incidence is on the rise again, scientists' forecasts suggest that the situation in hospitals should not get significantly worse over the next four weeks, Jurijs Perevoscikovs, head of the Infectious Disease Risk Analysis and Prevention Department at the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), said in an interview with Latvian Television on Wednesday. 

At present, hospitalizations are still on an acceptable level and hospitals are able to cope with them, the expert said. 

The CDC representative noted that Covid-19 cases are growing again in Latvia, which could be expected because of the change of seasons and start of the new school year. Covid-19 incidence in children is currently especially high. 

Perevoscikovs said that despite the high Covid-19 incidence, patients have not been overwhelming the hospitals because the population has acquired considerable immunity thanks to exposure to the virus through vaccination or getting infected. Besides, the Covid-19 variant currently dominating in Latvia causes milder illness than the strain that was spreading last winter. 

Perevoscikovs also recommended revaccination to everyone, especially at-risk groups. 

As reported, in the week from September 5 to 11, the number of new Covid-19 infections in Latvia grew by 14.5 percent against the week before, according to the data released by the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC).

The Covid-19 reproduction number (R) was 1.04, an indication that the spread of the infection was accelerating in Latvia. Meanwhile, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals grew by 6 percent from the previous week.

Last week, the number of new cases rose especially fast among children and youngsters, with the highest incidence rates recorded in Riga and western Latvia.

The rate of reinfections has been growing since July, the CDC said. Reinfections made up 17.8 percent of all new cases in June, 26.6 percent in July and 31.3 percent in August.