Greek PM Vows to Strengthen National Health System in Covid-19 Fight

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis vowed to strengthen the national health system to combat Covid-19 during a meeting on the epidemiological situation in Attica and the rest of the country.

Officials from the Ministry of Health advised the Prime Minister on the current situation in the nation’s battle against Covid-19 at a time when there are increasing numbers of intubations across the country.

Infection rate high despite lockdown

Even despite lockdowns being imposed nationwide, the rate of infections continues to be high. Part of the problem is the emergence of variants, especially that of the mutation from Great Britain, which has swept across the country.

Health officials in Greece became especially concerned about the strain on the nation’s hospitals after the number of intubated patients with Covid-19 reached 406 on Monday, 15 more than those recorded on Sunday.

This is the first time since early January that intubations in the country have surpassed 400, indicating increased pressure on Greek hospitals as cases continue to rise and more patients require the intensive and invasive treatment.

Covid-19 cases high despite lag in testing over the weekend

Additionally, a total of 1,176 new coronavirus cases were recorded in Greece on Monday. While Monday’s cases are 93 fewer than those diagnosed in the country on Sunday, nearly 10,000 fewer Covid-19 tests were conducted in Greece on Monday than the amount conducted the day before.

A total of 17,936 people were tested for the coronavirus on Monday, and the positivity rate was a disturbing 6.56%. On Sunday, a 26,330 tests for the virus were conducted in Greece, and the rate of positive results was just 4.82 percent.

Statistics show that in Greece there was a total of 192,270 confirmed coronavirus cases as of March 2 since the beginning of the pandemic; the last seven days saw a total of 9,487 confirmed cases.

There have been a total of 6,534 deaths associated with Covid-19 in Greece since the beginning of the outbreak and the daily increase of cases averages out to 30 over the last seven days. The death rate for Greece for all of those diagnosed with the virus over the last seven days is 3.4.

Greece performing well compared to other European nations; ICUs the issue

In contrast, the UK has registered the largest number of coronavirus cases per person of any large Western country, registering a total of 4,169,729 cases, with 47,211 diagnosed in the last seven days. The confirmed number of deaths has amounted to 122,719, with  1,645 deaths in the last seven days.

The daily increase of cases was 104 in the last week. The number of cases per million was 66.83 and  the number of deaths per million since the beginning of the pandemic was 1,836.17. The number of deaths per million came to 24.61 in the last seven days.

Still, the Greek figures paint a worrying picture of the current epidemiological situation in the Mediterranean country considering its much smaller number of ICUs relative to other countries.

During Tuesday’s meeting, the epidemiological data from all regions of the country were presented and the effect of the mutations on the transmission of the virus was discussed.

National Health System to be strengthened further against Covid-19

Measures were examined for the further strengthening of Greece’s National Health System, especially in the region of Attica, where there is increased pressure.

The Prime Minister and health officials also discussed the most effective ways to implement measures to prevent the transmission of the virus.

PM Mitsotakis decided that the Committee of Experts will be convened tomorrow morning to evaluate the epidemiological data throughout the country.

On Wednesday afternoon, Minister of Health Vassilis Kikilias will present in the context of the information he disseminates regularly, a plan for the further strengthening of the NSS, especially in the region of Attica.