A foreign national who arrived in Greece four days ago has been intubated in the intensive care unit of a hospital in Thessaloniki. The 65-year-old tourist arrived in northern Greece with negative molecular PCR test on May 29.
He was admitted to ICU on Tuesday, June 1.
When he sought the hospital with heavy symptoms and even complications caused by the virus, doctors found out that his whole family was infected with coronavirus last month.
Speaking to state-broadcaster ERT and Skai TV, the director of the ICU at Papanikolaou hospital Nikos Kapravelos said that it should be investigated whether the test was “false negative” or whether the man was infected with Covid-19 in Greece.
He added that the man fell ill on the day of his arrival, he did not inform anyone about his condition and went to the hospital late on Tuesday in deteriorating health condition.
Kapravelos said that the National Health Care Organization EODY has been informed, the procedure to track and tracing of his contacts has been launched.
ERT TV reported that the patient is a Russian tourist and implied that the PCR test may have been a “fake” one as “there is no false negative PCR test,” as the reported characteristally said at 3 o’ clock bulletin.
It’s not clear whether he was traveling alone and it looks as if he was not inoculated.
The ICU director expressed his concern about the opening of tourism saying that the situation is different than last summer as this year the coronavirus spread is wide. compliance with health protocols will lead to control or not control of the pandemic, he reportedly added.
Negative PCR test 72 hours before arrival is a precondition for travelers from abroad, unless one can prove with a certificate that has been fully vaccinated or has recovered from coronavirus infection.
