The spread of Covid-19 appears to be limited, however, the ‘hard factors’ remain high with 65 death of coronavirus patients in the week January 22-28, 2024, Greece’s National Health Organization EODY said in its weekly report.
5 people died from flu in the same week.
According to EODY, the number of Covid-deaths has decreased when compared to the previous week but it still remains at high levels.
A decline is recorded in the activity of SARS-CoV-2 and all indicators of Covid-19 show a decrease. Dominant sub-variant is JN.1 ranging around 50%.
SARS-CoV2 virus – COVID-19 infection
ISO 04/2024 (January 22 – 28, 2024)
- Infections-Reinflections: 12,425 (-6693)
- Deaths: 38,806 (+65)
- Hospital admissions: 546 (-296)
- Intubations: 51 (-18) New intubations: 11 (-18)
- PCR+Rapid tests: 167905 (-25207)
- Positivity (PRC+Rapid): 7.4% (-2.5)
Positivity in all tested samples showed a significant decrease compared to the previous week.
The number of admissions (n=546) showed a 60% decrease compared to the average weekly number of admissions in the previous 4 weeks (n=1,375) and was lower than the number of admissions in the corresponding week of 2023 (n=1,112).
The number of new intubations (n=11) showed a decrease compared to the average weekly number of new intubations over the previous 4 weeks (n=35) and was lower than the number of intubations in the corresponding week in 2023 (n=49). The number of intubated patients with COVID-19 infection is 51.
There were 65 deaths with a median age of 84 years (range 52-97 years). The number of deaths showed a decrease compared to the average weekly number of deaths in the previous 4 weeks (n=104) and was lower than the number of deaths in the corresponding week in 2023 (n=179).
The most frequent sub-variant of BA.2 was JN.1 ranging around 50%, followed by EG.5 (30%).
Viral load surveillance in municipal wastewater showed a reduction in SARS-CoV-2 virus circulation in 7 of the 9 areas tested.
Influenza virus
Influenza positivity in the community (sentinel network) remains above 10% (seasonal threshold for the onset of epidemic influenza activity according to ECDC) and showed an increase compared to the previous week, although the incidence of influenza episodes shows a steady downward trend .
5 new serious cases with hospitalization in ICU were recorded, while 5 new deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza were recorded.
A total of 94 people with laboratory-confirmed influenza were hospitalized in the ICU since the start of influenza surveillance, and 32 deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza were recorded.
263 influenza strains from hospital and community sentinel samples were typed, of which 260 (99%) were type A and 3 (1%) were type B.
In total, 246 A-type strains have been subtyped in the two Influenza Reference Centers. 230 (93.5%) belonged to the A(H1)pdm09 subtype and 16 (6.5%) to the A(H3) subtype.
Influenza syndromes (regardless of pathogen)
The number of influenza cases per 1,000 visits showed a decrease compared to the previous week.
Respiratory syncytial virus – RSV
RSV positivity showed a slight increase compared to the previous week.
