Greece confirmed 3,038 new coronavirus cases on Friday, of which 11 were identified at the country’s entry points, said the National Public Health Organization (EODY). There were 38 deaths, bringing the total number of fatalities to 997 for Greece.
All cases in Greece total 69,675 of which 4,601 relate to travel from abroad and 18,334 to already confirmed infection cases.
A total of 336 individuals are intubated. Their median age is 65 years, 81.8 per cent have an underlying condition or are aged 70 or more and 100 of them are women. Another 362 have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic.
‘Possibly the peak of second wave’
The second wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic has broken out in the world, raising infection rates steeply globally, infectious diseases expert Dr Vana Papaevangelou said at the live briefing on Friday.
In Greece, it features a wide dispersion of the virus throughout the country and a rise in infections in regions that were not noted for high viral loads, the member of the Health Ministry’s coronavirus committee said. Some of these increases may relate in certain areas to the harvesting of olives, she added.
The exponential rise of hospitalisations in coronavirus departments and in ICUs continues, Dr Papaevangelou noted, with hospitalisations doubling in the last ten days. She added however that “it appears that we are at the peak of this second wave.”
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She noted the steep rise of deaths and ventilator-dependent cases in Greece, but she said “the rate of ICU hospitalizations and deaths is proportional to the rise of infections in Greece – in other words, there is no rise in mortality.”
Hardalias reminds of curfew
Speaking at the briefing also, Deputy Civil Protection Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias stressed that a key factor to restricting infection spread is limiting movement outside the home.
He warned that the coming days would be very difficult and critical, and reminded the public of the curfew starting on Friday (Nov. 13), betwen 21:00 and 05:00 every day, with specific exceptions – work, health and walking pets. He also reiterated that food stores, supermarkets, pharmacies and car repair shops would shut down at 20:30 to accommodate this curfew.
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