Covid-19: First Death of Vaccinated Patient Reported in Greece

The first death of a patient who had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and did not have an underlying disease was reported in Greece on Sunday.

The death was reported during a television interview on Sunday by the assistant director of the Intensive Care Unit at Papanikolaou Hospital, Dr. Nikos Kapravelos.

According to Dr. Kapravelos, the man, who was 70 years old, had received both doses of the Pfizer vaccine, as had his family, before he became infected. He had been hospitalized after suffering from severe pneumonia.

“It simply came to our notice then. The Delta variant also affects vaccinated people. We should not see the inoculated as invincible, they should also be careful,” the physician said on Open television.

“However,” he noted, “vaccines are effective and remain the most powerful weapon in the fight against the pandemic.”

The doctor also noted that the case of the 70-year-old man is an exception to the total of about 13,000 deaths caused by Covid-19 and it should not shake the confidence in vaccines.

“This is an exception. But we see all over the world that the Delta variant also affects vaccinated people.”

The Delta Variant

The Delta variant is transmitted very easily and rapidly. According to the latest data (August 4, 2021), the delta variant has appeared in more than 130 countries.

The Delta variant has already surpassed the Alpha variant in the number of Covid-19 cases it has caused in many of these countries, including the U.S. The variant is believed to be 55 to 90 percent more contagious than previous variants of SARS-CoV-2.

Researchers are still not certain why the Delta variant is so much more contagious than other strains. It is believed that changes in the Delta variant protein may facilitate the entry of the virus into human cells.

Another early study suggests that a mutation in the Delta variant may help the virus combine better with human cells once it attaches. This way, the virus is able to infect more cells and escape the action of the immune system.

The Delta variant seems to affect younger people more often. In the United Kingdom, studies have shown that children and adults under the age of 50 are 2.5 times more likely to be infected.

The symptoms seem to be more intense and appear faster. People may be more likely to end up in the hospital if they have the Delta variant. Studies indicate that there may be almost twice as much risk of hospitalization as with the Alpha variant.

EODY announces 1,888 new Covid-19 cases

Greece’s National Public Health Organization (EODY) announced on Sunday 1,888 new coronavirus infections, 17 Covid-19 deaths and 241 patients in intubation.

The total death toll since the beginning of the pandemic has reached 13,223. Of them, 95.2 percent had an underlying disease and/or their age was 70 years and older.

At the same time, 241 intubated patients are currently in Intensive Care Units across the country.

Sixteen of the new cases were identified after checks at the country’s gates. The total number of cases is 537,125 (daily change + 0.4 percent), of which 51.2 percent are men.

Based on the confirmed cases of the last seven days, 134 are considered to be related to travel from abroad and 2,082 are related to an already known case.

The number of patients treated by intubation is 241 (60.6 percent men). Their median age is 64 years with 85.5 percent of them having an underlying disease and/or being over 70 years old.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 2,877 patients have been discharged from ICU. The admissions of new Covid-19 patients in the hospitals of the territory are 211 (daily change -25.96 percent). The average seven-day admission is 231 patients.

The median age of cases is 40 years (range 0.2 to 106 years), while the median age of those who died is 78 years (range 0.2 to 106 years).