Coronavirus: 1,626 new cases, 53 deaths

Greek health authorities announced 1,626 new coronavirus cases for the 24-hour period ending at 3 p.m. Sunday. There were also 53 deaths.

The cases were down from the 2,512 detected a day ago, but so was testing. Only 18,823 were conducted, compared to a daily average of 42,520 this past week.

There are 564 patients on ventilators, up from 545 a day ago and 466 a week ago. This is not a record number – this was 622, in early December – but is still straining the health system’s capacity.

Since the start of the pandemic last year, there have been 221,147 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 7,091 fatalities.