A total of 795 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Greece on Saturday, down from 941 that were recorded in the country one day earlier, on Friday.
A great number of the new 716 cases were diagnosed -once again- in the region of Attica.
Attica is home to Athens, the capital and most populous city in Greece, with approximately four million people permanent inhabitants.
Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city and capital of Macedonia follows suit in terms of new cases.
Ημερήσια έκθεση επιτήρησης #COVID19 (30/1/2021)- Εθνικός Οργανισμός Δημόσιας Υγείας #ΕΟΔΥ: https://t.co/7t2nCXnjeL
— Εθνικός Οργανισμός Δημόσιας Υγείας (ΕΟΔΥ) (@eody_gr) January 30, 2021
Tragically, 15 people with the virus passed away in the country over the past 24-hour period, which is three fewer than those recorded yesterday.
The death toll in Greece now stands at 5,779 individuals.
Currently, 257 patients with COVID-19 are now intubated in Greece, with the number being slightly reduced by three compared to Friday.
Cases continue to be particularly high in the city of Athens itself, something that has alerted Greek authorities.
The Greek government wants to avoid Thessaloniki’s dramatic scenes of last November when the city’s hospitals were on the verge of being overwhelmed.
Attica Among Regions With Strict COVID-19 Lockdown
New restrictive measures came into effect from Saturday at 06:00 AM local time in Greece. This came as a result of the coronavirus surge in Athens, and other Greek regions.
Cases in the Greek capital city rose by at least 45% in the last week.
Officials are alarmed at the number of cases recorded in the region in the past 72 hours. On Friday, 526 of the country’s total 941 Covid cases were diagnosed in Attica.
Of this figure, 130 cases of the coronavirus were diagnosed in the downtown center of Athens. In the city’s western and northern suburbs, 78 and 83 cases were diagnosed respectively on Friday.
Speaking to Open TV on Friday, Dr. Nikos Sipsas, epidemiologist and member of Greece’s coronavirus committee, stated that ICUs in Attica were reaching 60% capacity, and hospital admissions were on the rise.
Greece Ahead of a Third Coronavirus Wave?
It has to be noted that recorded cases have been much lower in Greece compared to November and December. However, experts fear that, if transmission of the novel coronavirus continues to rise, the country could face a third wave of the pandemic.
On top of this alarming situation, the true number of coronavirus cases in Greece could be higher than the figures show, since it is literally impossible for the entire population to get tested.
During a story on the television news station Skai, Nikos Tzanakis, a professor of Pulmonology and the Vice President of the Greek Pulmonary Society, estimated that the actual number of active cases in the country is really between 30,000 and 50,000.
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