Twelve elderly residents of a nursing home in Glyfada suburb of south Athens have been detected positive to Covid-19 within a week. At the same time, parts of the Greek society keep ignoring restrictions to contain the spread of the coronavirus and are crowding at parties and in churches even in regions placed in lockdown.
Twelve elderly residents of a nursing home in Glyfada suburb of south Athens have been detected positive to Covid-19 within a week. On Saturday, test results turned positive for 8 residents and 2 staff members. A week earlier, on October 10, the first four infected elderly were detected. They were transferred to hospitals in the Greek capital.
The Megalochari nursing home was evacuated and the elderly patients patients were taken to hospitals.
It is the 9th facility for elderly to confirm a coronavirus outbreak since the beginning of the pandemic in late February.Elderly residents have been infected by contaminated staff members.
Death toll reached 500 for the first time on Saturday and the milestone was quickly surpassed after another 6 Covid-19 patients died until Sunday noon.
The latest fatalities were aged 51-93, five of them had underlying health problems.
Health authorities are concerned about a spike in infections among older citizens and experts are concerned that the drop in temperatures could intensify the epidemiological trend.
The pandemic has reached a new spike in the last two days, with daily cases around 500.
At the same time, a part of the Greek society keeps ignoring the restrictions imposed by the health and civil protection authorities. And it is not only young people.
A party with over 1,500 people took place at the premises of the Aristotelio University in Thessaloniki on Saturday night. The country’s second biggest city has been recording an increase of infections in the last couple of days.
However, it is not only the youth ignoring the restrictions and rules against the pandemic.
In Kozani, the first regional unit that was placed in lockdown due to a heavy epidemiological load on Friday,people crowded in churches, although the restrcitions by the Civil Protection are very clear. When asked how could this happened, priests said that they cannot operate like policemen.
A local priest told Skai TV that there is no directive informing them that “only 9 people maximum are allowed in the churches.” Two services were held on Sunday, one with 20 people and one with 60.
The local Bishop reportedly went so far to call on the faithful to ‘come and receive the Holy Communion from a shared spoon,” claiming that “God protects Greeks” from coronavirus infections.
Authorities warn of the increase of contamination within families, with 26 such cases to have been detected in one day only.
