Greece confirmed 2,754 new coronavirus infections and recorded 76 deaths in the last 24 hours, health authorities announced on Friday. The number of intubated Covid-patients had decreased further to 819.
Live Briefing
At the live briefing on Friday, health authorities said that the epidemiological load remains high, despite the gradual lifting of restrictions for economy and tourism.
Half of Greece remains in “deep red,” that is in “very high risk.”
There is a stable downwards trend as positivity rate is down to 4.2%,
Active cases across the country: 25,000
There are some 30 new infections per 100,000 population.
Regions with very high epidemiological load are: Attica, especially West Attica, central and west Athens, and Piraeus.
Regions that also cause concern are Central and western Macedonia.
What also concerns the epidemiologists is the vaccination rate especially in older ages. According to the date in 2 in 3 aged over 75 have been vaccinates with result that “1 in 4 in ICUs to be over 75 years old.”
At the Live Briefing, officials from the Civil Protection and the Development Ministry announced measures to be implemented for the Easter Holidays incl family celebrations and religious services. Also some lifting of retail restrictions but also which regional units enter the “deep red” regime. Details in separate posts.
Official coronavirus data, April 23
Tests in the last 24 hours: PCR 18,285 Rapid tests 48,077
Positivity of PCR & Rapid: 4.15%
Since the pandemic began, Greece has confirmed 329,134 infections (daily change: +0.8%). In the confirmed cases of the last 7 days, 65 infections are related to travel from abroad and 3,094 to other confirmed cases.
There are also 76 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total of pandemic victims to 9,864. Of these, 95.5% had an underlying condition and/or were 70 years old.
A total of 819 patients are on ventilators in hospitals. Their median age is 68 years and 84.5% have an underlying condition and/or are aged 70 or more.
2,003 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the pandemic began.
456 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours (daily change: -2.56%). The average admission of patients with Covid-19 to hospitals over the last 7 days was 479.
The median age of new infections is 44 years (range: 0.2 to 106 years), while the median age of the deceased is 79 (range: 0.2 to 106 years).
Geographic distribution April 23
Of the 2754 new cases, 12 were detected at the entrance gates of the country.
The remaining cases are:
1355 Attica
343 Thessaloniki
81 Larissa
74 Achaia
54 Heraklio 52 Serres
Each 47 Evia, Kozani
46 Viotia 41 Magnisia
38 Kavala 36 Pella
33 Ioannina 29 Corinth
28 Fthiotida 27 Kilkis
Each 21 Evros, Imathia
Each 20 Aitoloakarnania, Kalymnos
18 Rethymno
Each 17 Rodopi, Chania
Each 16 Xanthi, Halkidiki
14 Ilia
Each 13 Argolida, Drama
12 Pieria
Each 11 Karditsa, Trikala
Each 10 Arcadia, Messinia
9 Kastoria 8 Lasithi
6 Lesvos
Each 5 Thassos, Corfu, Samos
Each 4 Kos, Evrytania, Zakynthos, Thesprotia, Lakonia, Preveza
Each 3 Grevena, Rhodes, Florina
Each 2 Arta, Kefalonia, Milos, Tinos, Paros
Each 1 Karpathos/Kasos, Thira, Kea/Kythnos, Mykonos, Limnos, Chios
So, it is very clear vaccines prevent serious illness and death.
AND YET, here on Kefalonia, and probably everywhere in Greece, there still continues to be a total lack of vaccinations for people without AMKA numbers!
People who are ALL ELIGIBLE FOR VACCINES IN RELATION TO THEIR AGES!
AND YET, Greece continues to deny…delay ….withold……?? temporary AMKA numbers – some people still waiting are 70+ – just like in the ICUs! The ‘waiting list’ is OVER FIFTEEN THOUSAND. Are we being condemned to death inadvertently?
AND YET, ages 30-39 can book a vaccine from Tuesday… WITH AN AMKA. But a 70+ yr old WITHOUT AN AMKA CANNOT BOOK A VACCINE.
If ANYONE without a temporary AMKA dies, anyone who SHOULD BE ELIGIBLE NOW FOR A VACCINE, then the Greek government MUST be held criminally liable.
The politicians PROMISED to protect us but in just 3 weeks, the country opens for tourists and those of us denied the right to even a first vaccine, WILL BE AT GREAT RISK. Of course, the politicians were given vaccines long ago – so why should they care about loss of life now.
But be in no doubt, there will be blood on their hands.
It does look like we are third class citizens ……I am not sure that our lives are important at all to the greek government. It is making us wonder wether to stay in greece or move …….something we hadn’t ever considered before.
It easy to be paranoid. Greece started administering COVID vaccines near the start of the year. The problem with people who do not have AMKA numbers was resolved at some time in the week starting 19 April so it took under 4 months for the government to resolve the problem. For many countries that would be unacceptable but for Greece that is unbelievably fast and absolutely nothing to do with treating foreign nationals as third class citizens.
A completely normal administrative procedure, like renewing a driving licence, where there are absolutely no problems at all and the system has been working for decades takes 3 months. As soon as you introduce anything that isn’t completely standard then the time-scales expand exponentially. As an example my application for a Greek pension required consolidating insurance data from Greek employment and UK employment. That took 5 years from application to first payment.
I know 2 couples who do not qualify for a permanent AMKA number. They previously registered for a temporary AMKA number through KEP and received notification by text that they had registered together with a reference number. They contacted KEP this morning and KEP said that if they go back to them today the system is now working and they can issue them with a temporary AMKA number and that they can then use that to get an appointment. Interestingly the local KEP office would not arange the appointment for them, which I thought they were supposed to do?
So YES the system wasn’t working BUT now it is.
That is good news …..where do they live? Near kalamata the kep say it just doesn’t work! No idea when it will work ………..or if! It looks like we have NO other choice but to fly to the uk and beg for a jab! Especially now they are letting in thousands of russians with sputnik alledgedly. come on greece! sort it out.