First certain H1N1 death confirmed
A 29-year-old Frenchman, hospitalized in Athens two weeks ago after displaying symptoms of the H1N1 virus, died last week of multiple organ failure, becoming the first swine flu patient in Greece whose death has been linked exclusively to the virus, as he had not been suffering from any other ailments.
The 29-year-old Frenchman died in the intensive-care unit of Athens’s Sismanogleio Hospital.
“This is the first death in our country from the new virus where the patient had no underlying affliction,” said the Ministry of Health.
Two other people whose deaths have been linked to swine flu, a 25-year-old Albanian man and a 23-year-old Greek man, both had been suffering from serious heart problems when they contracted the virus.
Retail jobs cut as households slash spending
Data made public last week on Greece’s retail sector showed labor conditions are deteriorating as retailers cut back on jobs to offset lower sales.
The National Statistical Service said a general index measuring the number of people employed in retail in the second quarter of 2009 fell 1.7 percent year-on-year.
The drop translates into some 11,200 employment positions being lost, given that 659,273 people worked in retail, according to recent research.
A drop in consumption has been a key factor in bringing the Greek economy to a halt this year, as households slash spending to get through the crisis.
Hotter cities in 10 years
Just over 10 years from now, residents of Athens and other major cities will have to endure more heat waves of a greater duration, significantly hotter nights and an increase in thunderstorms, according to the results of a study by conservation group WWF Hellas made public last week.
According to the study into the impact of global warming on Greece’s climate, carried out by the Athens Observatory, the period between 2021 and 2050 will see an increase in extreme weather phenomena in major cities but also on islands and in rural areas.
Achilleas Plitharas, a spokesman for WWF Hellas, said the protection of dwindling green spaces and the creation of new ones might help to blunt the impact of global warming on climate change.