Greece broke the four-digit ceiling with 1,259 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections on Tuesday, while also noting more than a hundred intubated patients in ICU for the first time.

On Monday, new cases had numbered 715, however a huge spike in cases came within 24 hours.

Of the day’s new cases, 112 are linked to known clusters and 62 are a result of checks at the country’s entry points. They bring the total of all infections in Greece since the start to 32,752 of which 3,950 relate to travel abroad and 12,381 to already known cases.

At Greek hospitals, 102 patients have been intubated. Their median age is 65 years, 96.1 per cent have an underlying condition or are aged 70 or more, and 33 are women. Around 277 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the pandemic first began.

The Greek National Health Organisation also announced 12 confirmed deaths, bringing coronavirus-related deaths to 593 in Greece. The median age of all the deceased so far was 79 years and 96.1 per cent had some underlying condition and/or were aged 70 or more.

Greek Civil Protection and Crisis Management Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias said Northern Greece leads in the dispersal of coronavirus infections. The northern Greek regions of Serres in Macedonia and Ioannina in NW Greece would be upgraded to red-alert level level of inceased threat as of 06:00 on Thursday. The region of Rodopi in NE Greece and the island of Naxos are upgraded raised to ‘orange’ alert level of increased monitoring.

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He issued a call to the public for efforts to contain the spread of the disease in those areas, and added that the situation is extremely critical.

Immunologist Professor Sotiris Tsiodras said the dispersal of the coronavirus “is impossible to control, we need a mature understanding”.

The infectious diseases specialist called the next two weeks particularly critical for the spread of the pandemic. In responses to press questions, he noted that when there is a spike in infections among younger people, it takes 2-3 weeks for those infections to spread to older people. As an example, he said that the current number of infections among people over 55 years old has now doubled.

In terms of more measures, he ruled out a lockdown both in Europe and in Greece, calling it “a last resort”, and warning the public to pitch in and assume personal responsibility by observing health measures. Stricter measures would be discussed by Greece’s health committee on Thursday, especially in regards to restrictions for restaurants and sports.

Geographic distributions on Tuesday

The National Public Health Organization (EODY) released the breakdown of the new coronavirus cases on Tuesday jumping to 1,259 from 715 new cases on Monday.

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Attica, the most densely populated area in Greece, had 295 cases. Thessaloniki cases spiked to 291. Northern Greece, had the most cases with COVID-19 infections in the following areas: Rodopi (73), Serres (55), Halkidiki (22), Evros, Pella (20 each), Drama (18), Xanthi (15), Imathia (13), Kavala (12), Kozani (12), and Kilkis (11).

In Western Greece, Ioannina (21) and Corfu (12) led in numbers, while in Central Greece Larissa (47) and Trikala (19) numbers showed a sharp rise as well.

Islands also showed a rise, with Rhodes (9) and Naxos (6), and a spike on Chios (61), with most of these (51) related to the migrants reception and identification center.