Athens University Medical School

The COVID-19 epidemic in Greece is continuing to wind down at a steady and fairly swift pace according to epidemiological data released today.

The National Public Health Organisation has announced that 30 COVID-19 patients have died and that 7,014 infections have been confirmed in the last 24 hours.

The National Public Health Organisation today announced 64 deaths of COVID-19 patients and 7,365 infections confirmed in the last 24 hours.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 28,765 COVID-19 patients have died in Greece, 95.5 percent with an underlying medical condition and/or age 70 or older.

Athens University Medical School Professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology Gkikas Magorkinis, a prominent member and spokesman for the National Committee on COVID-19, touched on the emergence of the Omicron 2 sub-variant of COVID-19 at today's weekly press briefing.

Nearly a month after the government lifted restrictions on COVID-19 vaccinated individuals in high-risk red zones, it is reviewing possible public health restrictions in those zones, such as northern Greece, where the vaccination rate is particularly low and hospitals are reeling with ICUs filled to capacity.

The National Commission on Vaccination announced today that it has approved the administration of a third dose of mRNA vaccines (Pfizer and Moderna) to individuals age 60 or older and to healthcare workers.

Greece has fully vaccinated 56 percent of the population and the rate remains low among citizens in the high-risk older age brackets.

Health Minister Vasilis Kikilias and Athens University Medical School Professor of Epidemiology Sotiris Tsiodras met today with the 12-member Permanent Holy Synod to persuade the Orthodox Church of Greece to join the state's massive vaccination push to build a wall of immunity by the end of August.

A coronavirus known to live in bats is the closest strain of the 2019-nCoV virus that first appeared in China's Wuhan region and has since spread to other parts of Asia, with cases reported in Europe, Australia and North America, a study by Greek scientists at Athens University and the University of Crete has revealed.