Greece announced more than 3,000 Covid-19 infections for the third day in a row on Friday, while 753 patients remained intubated, keeping the up the tremendous pressure on the country’s coronavirus referral hospitals.
The National Organization of Public Health (EODY) said in its daily bulletin that the overall number of infections now stands at 270,230 since the beginning of the pandemic.
The EODY also said said that 72 people had died from Covid-19 over the last day, which brought the number of overall fatalities to 8,232 in Greece.
A total of 753 patients are now on ventilators in hospitals across the country. Their median age is 68 years and 83 percent of them suffer from an underlying condition and/or are aged 70 or over. Another 1,733 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the pandemic began.
In addition, 562 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals in the last 24 hours. The average admission of patients with Covid-19 to hospitals over the last seven days was 465.
The median age of new infections is 44 years, while the median age of the deceased is 79.
EODY said its teams had performed 56,903 tests in the past 24 hours (19,049 PCR and 37,854 rapid antigen), with the positivity rate standing at 5.4 percent.
Greece criticizes rollout of Covid-19 vaccines
Earlier, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis criticized the European Union’s stumbling rollout of Covid-19 vaccines.
Mitsotakis expressed appreciation for the joint purchasing of vaccines by the European Commission, which has helped smaller states such as Greece.
“But at the same time it failed in getting the necessary quantities and supplying member states promptly,” he said in a speech before Parliament.
“The European Union is obliged… to use all the legal tools to force companies which have signed agreements with the bloc to respect their contractual obligations,” including banning exports, Mitsotakis said.
He added that Greece would double its number of vaccinations in the coming weeks and inoculate everyone over 60 years of age by the end of May.
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