Tirana, 19 July 2022 (MIA) — The SARS-CoV-2 omicron BA.5 variant seems to be spreading widely in Albania, according to latest official figures saying 48.3 percent of those tested in the past 24 hours were positive, MIA’s Tirana correspondent reports. “In the past 24 hours, 3,821 tests were performed, confirming the virus in 1,846 people,” the Albanian Ministry of Health announced. Thirty patients are currently being treated in the Covid3 hospital, and two people from Tirana, aged 67 and 81, died from SARS-CoV-2, health authorities said. Officially, there are 9,146 active SARS-CoV-2 cases in Albania at the moment. According to general practitioners, however, the official statistics do not reflect the actual situation. More people are infected, they say, considering the large number of citizens who only do rapid antigen tests at home and do not call in unless their condition worsens. Doctors say every second patient who comes to their clinics has COVID-19 symptoms. Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 1,889,151 tests have been performed in Albania, of which 298,578 were positive; 285,912 people recovered from their acute infection and 3,520 died from the virus. mr/