Sotiris Tsiodras

Greece's public health experts are sounding alarms about future pandemic threats and the growing issue of antibiotic resistance.

During a public health conference on Wednesday, prominent epidemiologists discussed the possibility of a new pandemic emerging from one of 25 virus families currently under surveillance by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Athens Medical School professor and epidemiologist Sotiris Tsiodras had sounded the alarm about a potential increase of dengue fever cases in Europe due to climate change.

Addressing a public health seminar in Athens on Monday, Tsiodras said that in South America, every hospital bed has a mosquito net to prevent the transmission of dengue fever between patients.

Vaccine skepticism is expected to have an adverse impact on the country's overall inoculation program and public health, warned Sotiris Tsiodras, the head of the Hellenic Society for Infectious Diseases. 

About 20,000 deaths from complications of Covid-19 were prevented by vaccination against the coronavirus infection, according to a new pre-published study by professors Sotiris Tsiodras and Theodoros Lytras, conducted during the period 11 January 2020 - 8 December 2021.

In a nationally televised briefing today, Professor of Epidemiology Sotiris Tsiodras presented the findings of a large-scale study that he conducted on the impact of the vaccination rollout in Greece on the number of COVID-19 deaths and ICU admissions and intubations.

By Ioannis Konidaris*

On Sunday, 25 July all Orthodox Churches around Greece were sent an Encyclical issued by the Holy Synod with the heading "To the People [Congregation]" with the purpose, according to the report of a creditable daily, "to mobilise priests and the people to be vaccinated".

Europe has sounded the alarm for the coronavirus Delta mutation, which appears to have become a summer threat, raising additional concerns among tourism and travel professionals.

Having first hit India and neighboring countries hard, now the new mutation is beginning to spread to Europe.

The Greek Health Ministry and the Civil Protection bureau issued a COVID-19 orange alert (moderate risk) today after the appearance and expected spread of the more transmissible Delta variant, which was isolated in India, especially on the island of Crete, which has the most confirmed cases.

Infectious diseases expert Sotiris Tsiodras, one of the government's top scientific advisers on fighting Covid-19, on Friday held a telephone call with Prof. Nadir Arber, the Israeli inventor of a promising drug against the virus.

During his recent visit to Israel, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis offered to have a hospital in Greece take part in clinical trials.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is convening an emergency meeting of key government officials on Tuesday to discuss concerns about a spike in coronavirus cases in the Greek capital and recommendations for a hard lockdown similar to that imposed last spring.