Thirty one new cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the last 24 hours, raising the number of total infections to 481, Greece’s health authorities said on Wednesday.
For 64 infected patients the source of contamination could not be identified, spokesman of National Health Organization Sotitis Tsiodras said adding that they had neither travel history or were associated with other confirmed cases.
79 patients are hospitalized, 13 of the with an average age of 70 are intubated in the ICUs of hospitals in Athens, Patras and Thessaloniki.
14 patients have been discharged from the hospitals.
More than 6,000 samples have been tested since the beginning of the outbreak.
Last week, Greece strictly limited the coronavirus tests only to vulnerable groups of the society and those suffering from specific categories of health issues reportedly such as respiratory and heart problems, unregulated diabetes, oncology patients under chemotherapy, radiation or other immune-therapy, transplanted patients, hypertension and others.
This has led to criticism and speculation about the real number of infected people in the country.
“We do not have a few cases because we hide them, nor do we conduct a small number of tests as some claim,” Tsiodras who is also Professor for Infectious Diseases said at the daily briefing.
He added that worldwide the cases are under-registred, not just in Greece.
He defended the tests practices in the country aims to not set high-risk groups in danger.
He noted that based on specific epidemiological models and tools available to Greek scientists, and in particular to those at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, which is conducting a specific study, the actual cases of coronavirus in Greece today is estimated at between 2,000 and 3,000.
The study is being conducted by Associate Professor for Epidemiology and Medical Statistics at the Laboratory of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics of the University of Athens School of Medicine, Vana Sipsa.
In an effort to contain the coronavirus spread, next to other measures, Greece also banned gatherings of more than 10 people not only outdoors but in homes as well. Violators will be fined.
