Fourth coronavirus wave likely after the summer, expert warns

As Greece beats back its third coronavirus wave, an expert warned Monday a fourth one could strike after the summer if restrictions are lifted too quickly.

“The virus is everywhere,” Dr George Pavlakis, senior investigator at the human retrovirus section of the American Center for Cancer Research of the National Cancer Institute, told Skai TV on Monday. 

“We hope that the summer breeze will bring a drop in the number of infections, but these will not disappear,” he said.

Pavlakis also warned about the prospect of a fresh lockdown, depending on the spread of new mutations. 

Asked about the Indian variant, he said it is very contagious and particularly vaccine-resistant.

Pavlakis said the safest way to avoid renewed restrictions on movement is effective monitoring and continued use of preventive strategies – including face masks –, as well as robust contact tracing to stop Covid-19 transmission.

“The only good virus is the dead virus. The only real solution is zero infections,” he said.

Greek health authorities announced 877 new cases of the coronavirus for the 24-hour period ending 3 p.m. Sunday, as well as 38 deaths.

The number of patients on ventilators continued its steady decline, to 569 early Sunday afternoon from 586 a day earlier.

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 389,804 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 11,772 fatalities.