Greece confirmed 358 new COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, of which 56 are linked to known clusters and 43 were detected at the country’s entry points.

There have been 16,286 cases detected in Greece since the pandemic was first noted in the country in February, and 2,696 have been related to travel abroad and 6,808 to known clusters.

There are currently 73 people intubated in Greek ICUs. The average age of these is 68 years, and 89 per cent have an underlying condition or are aged 70 or over.

A total of 191 people have been disharged from ICUs since the pandemic broke out.

There were five more deaths noted on Wednesday, bringing total fatalities in Greece to 357, with the average age of the deceased at 78 years, and 96.9 per cent having an underlying condition or being at least 70 years old.

READ MORE: Greece confirms 346 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday

Doctors protest

Hospital doctors will rally in front of Greece’s Ministry of Health in downtown Athens at noon and strike for 24 hours on Thursday for what their federation called “tragic shortages in staff and infrastructure”.

The Federation of Hospital Doctor Associations of Greece (OENGE) said that “67 per cent of ICU beds set aside for COVID-19 are already occupied and the future ahead promises to be tougher.”

They also said beds were being redistributed for coronavirus patients, shortchanging patients who had other serious illnesses. “The health system has become a one-illness system, with disastrous results for patients’ health,” they said.