New spike in Thessaloniki as virus keeps spreading

An alarming increase of the epidemiological burden of Covid-19 in Thessaloniki and growing pressure on the National Health System (ESY) are fueling concern at a time when most of the attention has been focused on Athens hospitals. 

More specifically, in 12 hospitals in Thessaloniki and northern Greece, with a total of 181 Covid intensive care unit beds, there were only 21 vacancies Thursday.

The occupancy rate at Covid ICUs nationwide has now reached 85%.

In the 14 hospitals of Attica, there were only 12 free ICU beds Thursday out of total of 402. About 60 patients were intubated outside ICUs.

Meanwhile, the virus continued to spread Thursday, with 3,491 new cases and 67 fatalities confirmed. Of those cases, 1,649 were detected in Attica, 467 in Thessaloniki, 119 in Achaia, 112 in Larissa and 91 in Kozani.

The total number of cases reached 267,172, with 8,160 dead.