Coronavirus Cases, Deaths Rise in Greece as Easter Approaches

Greece recorded 3,313 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, which marks 1,996 more instances of the virus than the 1,317 cases recorded on Monday.

Additionally, the country recorded that there were 813 patients with Covid-19 on ventilators on Tuesday, which is two more than the 811 patients undergoing the invasive treatment in the country yesterday, Monday.

A total of 76,854 coronavirus tests were conducted across the country during the day, bringing the positivity rate to 4.31% in Greece, down from yesterday’s rate of 5.89%.

Tragically, 92 people suffering from the coronavirus passed away in the country over the past 24-hour period, which represents 12 more than those who died with the virus on Monday.

1,581 cases of Covid-19 diagnosed in Attica alone; 418 in Thessaloniki

Of the 3,313 new coronavirus cases recorded in Greece in the past 24 hours, 1,581 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 443 cases of Covid-19 were identified Tuesday.

Tests showed that in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city, a total of 418 cases of Covid-19 had been diagnosed in the last 24 hours.

Pfizer trying to develop a pill to cure Covid-19

The American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, after its great triumph in producing the world’s first coronavirus vaccine, is now working toward developing a single pill that would work to cure Covid-19.

The pill is currently in Phase One clinical trials which were announced last Tuesday in the US and Belgium and they could be available to the public by the end of the year.

The antiviral pill that Pfizer is developing is codenamed PF 07321332. The way it is expected to work is by targeting the “spine” of the Covid-19 virus, and therefore block it from replicating in the throats and lungs of those suffering from the virus.

This type of drug, called a “protease inhibitor,” has been used in the past to help manage the HIV epidemic.

After this type of medication was first released in 1996, the annual number of deaths related to HIV in the US fell from 50,000 to 18,000 within two years.

Similar groundbreaking results are possible for Covid-19 survival rates if Pfizer’s miracle pill is deemed safe and effective after the ongoing clinical trials.

Over 10,000 total coronavirus deaths in Greece

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 337,723 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 59 are associated with foreign travel and 2,493 have been linked to contact with a known case.

Of the 813 patients intubated currently, 85.5% are over the age of 70 or suffer from preexisting conditions. Their average age is 68.

On Tuesday alone, 367 people with the coronavirus were admitted to hospitals in Greece.

Additionally, a total of 2,070 patients have been discharged from ICUs around the country since the beginning of the pandemic.

The 92 new deaths recorded on Tuesday bring the total number of fatalities in the country to 10,179; 95.5% of those who have passed away with the virus were over the age of 70 or suffered from underlying health issues.