New Covid-19 Cases in Greece Continue to Rise

Greece confirmed a recent high of 3,739 new Covid-19 infections in the last 24 hours, with 12 of these identified at entry points to the country, the National Public Health Organization (EODY) said on Tuesday.

Since the pandemic began, Greece has confirmed a total of 700,959 infections. Of the confirmed cases of the last 7 days, 124 infections are related to travel from abroad and 2,144 to other confirmed cases.

There are also 29 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total of pandemic victims to 15,447. Of these, 95.3 percent had an underlying condition and/or were aged 70 or over.

A total of 356 patients are on ventilators in hospitals. Their median age is 66 years and 81.7 percent have an underlying condition and/or are aged 70 or over. Of the total, 312 (87.64 percent) are unvaccinated or partly vaccinated and 44 (12.36 percent) are fully vaccinated.

Another 3,253 have been discharged from ICUs since the pandemic began.

In addition, 192 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours. The average admission of patients with Covid-19 to hospitals over the last 7 days was 208.

The median age of new infections is 39 years, while the median age of the deceased is 78 (range: 0.2 to 106 years).

Covid-19 unvaccinated people remain a major headache

The number of the unvaccinated citizens, particularly those over 60 years old, remains a major headache for the health ministry, Health Minister Thanos Plevris said on Monday while speaking on MEGA TV.

He also emphasized that vaccination remains the only viable strategy against Covid-19 at present, as possible treatments were still “too distant”.

Plevris also noted that, while up to 60 percent of the general population and 70 percent of the adult population were vaccinated, these rates were not evenly distributed in the country, with some areas having much lower rates of vaccination.

He stressed that the numbers tell the truth and send a clear message, as 87 to 90 percent of the patients in ICUs are either unvaccinated or not fully vaccinated.

“Many times we are asked about the monoclonal antibodies and the new treatments against COVID-19,” Plevris said and explained that there are promising treatments involving pills being developed by two or three pharmaceutical companies.

“We are in coordination as the EU but also separately, as Greece, to proceed with these supplies but we will not have reliable data on these treatments before the new year. So, it is very important for the citizens to know that for the next three to four months, our only protection, apart from the self-protection measures, is vaccination.”

Finally, he revealed that he has met with all the companies that are producing such drugs, adding that the new medicines will not be available before January or February 2022 at the earliest and may take up to seven or eight months.