Greece’s health experts are highly concerned about the coronavirus in the country as the cases reached an average of 230 case per day in the last two weeks. Infections in the month of August reached 5,207, that is over half of a total of 9,531 cases since the beginning of the outbreak in late February.
With 5 more deaths officially announced on Friday evening, death toll reached 259, with 52 of the deceased to have died in August.
The reported daily cases of coronavirus marked a slight decrease on Thursday, however the all time record was a day earlier with 293 daily cases. On Friday, the country recorded another 270 cases in the last 24 hours.
The average of infected has reportedly decreased from 48 during the outbreak to 39. The age group 18-45 is over-represented in the diagnostic of the recent new cases, notes protothema.
In the biggest hospital of the country, in Evaggelismos in Athens, the new hospitalizations increase dramatically, reports daily ethnos. ” It is worth noting that the majority of the COVID-19 related hospitalizations are young starting at 16 years of age,, while there patients as old as 102.”
But because the age of the infected has decreased, there are not many in the ICUs, the newspaper notes adding that only 3 Covid-patients are the hospital’s ICUs, In the normal wards, the Covid-patients are aged 16-25.
Attica and Thessaloniki have the majority of new infections in August, while alarm bell have rang on the island of Lesvos with 22 new cases in just one day, on Thursday.
The total infections on the island in the eastern Aegean Sea have reached 82, with 15 of them hospitalized and 1 intubated. Majority of the cases are in the Municipality of Mytilene and tracking shows that they are related to religious services, state broadcaster ERT TV reported Friday afternoon. Note that extraordinary restriction measures have been imposed on Lesvos since August 24. Local authorities have reportedly proposed the Civil Protection on Friday, stricter additional measures that include opening of schools late than planned (Sept 7), and mandatory use of mask in churches.
Reasons for the infections increase in August are reportedly the domestic and foreign tourism, the increased mobility within the country due to summer vacations, the crowding of mostly young generations in private and public spaces as well as a relaxation in the observance of personal protection measures such as face masks and social distancing.
Extraordinary restrictions in touristic destinations such as Paros, Mykonos, Halkidiki seems to have have worked and the initial experts’ grim scenario for over 400 cases per day has been averted. For now.
Greece’s health authorities are monitoring the course of the coronavirus infections with Argus’ eyes.
According to ERT TV, the government does not exclude new restrictions measures through out the country if the number of daily cases remains at the current levels. Such measures would be mandatory use of mask in- and outdoors, and closure of all dining facilities, bars, cafes etc at midnight sharp.
Professor for Hygiene and Epidemiology and member of the experts’ committee at the Health Ministry, Gkikas Magiorkinis, confirmed the media reports on these two horizontal measures. He said that the experts are considering this scenario should the situation worsen.
