New Covid-19 Infections in Greece Break All-Time Record

New Covid-19 infections in Greece broke a daily record on Saturday with 4,696. Health authorities announced also 38 deaths in past 24 hours, as experts warn that the fourth wave of the pandemic will peak in November.

According to the National Organisation for Public Health (EODY), the number of Covid-patients in hospital ICUs exceeded 400 and reached 404 from 392 a day earlier.

There were 38 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 15,894. Of these, 95.4 percent had an underlying medical condition and/or were age 70 or older.

Since the start of the pandemic, 739,448 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed by EODY.

About 85 percent of intubated patients (344) are unvaccinated or have received just one jab of a two-dose vax, while 15 percent (60) are fully vaccinated.

Several studies undertaken the the US’ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that those who are unvaccinated are 11 times more likely to die from Covid-19 than the vaccinated.

As Smithsonian Magazine reported in September, those who were not vaccinated made up 95 percent of all Covid-19 cases in the United States, as well as 93 percent of hospitalizations and 92 percent of deaths that occurred between April 4 to June 19 of this year.

Hospital ICU’s in Thessaloniki and Thessaly are filled to capacity

In addition, 277 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours. The average daily number of admissions was 263 over the last seven days.

Of the confirmed cases over the last 7 days, 159 are related to travel abroad and 3,023 have been traced to prior confirmed cases.

The median age of new cases is 39-years-old, while the median age of those who have died is 78-years-old.

Fourth wave of Covid-19 pandemic in Greece

Covid-19 cases are expected to rise further in November and the fourth wave of the pandemic to peak over the month, according to Athanasios Tsakris, professor of microbiology and member of the Health Ministry’s committee of experts on the pandemic.

Speaking to Skai TV on Friday, he said that this wave of the pandemic “will evolve until December, in a similar way to the second epidemic wave last year in the corresponding period.”

“We see it evolving first in northern Greece and then in the other regions,” he noted, adding, however, that the overall situation won’t be as bad as it was last winter in northern Greece as the population is now getting vaccinated, albeit at a low rate.

The coronaviruses, he said, “start with the first cold in October, peak around midwinter and continue until spring.”

He noted that there is a “significant percentage of vaccinated people who provide respite and hope to the health system,” stressing that both the flu vaccine and the third dose are necessary, with priority given to the latter at this stage.

Earlier, Mina Gaga, Greece’s deputy Minister of Health, stated in a radio interview that “the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has already started” in Greece, where there are “more than 3,000 cases each day.”