Coronavirus cases are on the rise in Greece on Thursday as high school students and teachers are now required to take self-tests for the virus two times each week.
This has drastically increased the number of people tested for the coronavirus, and therefore those found to be positive, in the country.
On Wednesday, the Greek Minister of Labor Kostis Hatzidakis announced that a wade range of workers, including all those in retail and the service industry, would also be required to take the self-tests each week starting on Monday.
Record number of Coronavirus patients on ventilators in Greece Thursday
Greece recorded its highest number of Covid-19 patients on ventilators Thursday, with 819 people undergoing the intensive treatment.
This figure is ten more than the 809 patients undergoing the invasive treatment in the country yesterday, Wednesday, which itself had set a new record for the country.
Greece recorded 3,833 cases of the coronavirus on Thursday, which marks 744 fewer instances of Covid-19 than the 3,089 cases that had been diagnosed in the country on Wednesday.
According to the Hellenic National Public Health Organization (EODY), the figure includes all teachers and students whose positive self-tests for the coronavirus were later confirmed by PCR tests.
A total of 64,998 coronavirus tests were conducted across the country during the day, bringing the positivity rate to 5.9% in Greece, up from yesterday’s rate of 4.84%.
Tragically, 104 people suffering from the coronavirus passed away in the country over the past 24-hour period, which represents 23 more than those who died with the virus on Wednesday.
1,861 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed Attica alone; 521 in Thessaloniki
Of the 3,833 coronavirus cases recorded in Greece in the past 24 hours, 1,861 were located in Attica, home to the Greek capital city of Athens.
Instances of the virus were particularly high in the center of the city itself, where 555 cases of Covid-19 were identified Thursday.
Tests showed that in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, a total of 521 cases of Covid-19 had been diagnosed in the last 24 hours.
Over 300,000 total cases of Covid-19 identified in the country
Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 308,006 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the country, including all those who have recovered from the virus.
Of the cases diagnosed in Greece in the past seven days, just 60 are associated with foreign travel and 2,636 have been linked to contact with a known case.
Of the 819 patients intubated currently, 84.9% are over the age of 70 or suffer from preexisting conditions. Their average age is 68.
On Thursday alone, 526 people with the coronavirus were admitted to hospitals in Greece.
Additionally, a total of 1,925 patients have been discharged from ICUs around the country since the beginning of the pandemic.
The 104 new deaths recorded on Thursday bring the total number of fatalities in the country to 9,239; 95.5% of those who have passed away with the virus were over the age of 70 or suffered from underlying health issues.
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