Pandemic pressure on the islands still strong

Despite the efforts of health authorities to stem the tide, there are currently no signs of any clear decline in coronavirus cases on the Greek islands.

Indicatively Wednesday, there were 98 new infections diagnosed on Rhodes, 39 each on Chios and Corfu, 30 on Mykonos, 23 on Paros, 22 on Naxos and 16 on Santorini and Ios together. However, overall, the positivity rate of lab tests from July 26 to August 1 decreased to 2.86% from 3.26% a week earlier. 

Meanwhile, 2,856 new cases were confirmed nationwide Wednesday. The effective reproductive number (Rt) has fallen further and is now estimated at 1.05 – when 1 is the threshold below which the epidemic is controlled – from 1.16 and 1.23 in the previous two weeks. 

Another 16 Covid patients died Wednesday, continuing a trend of the last seven days of more than 10 daily fatalities. Of the 192 patients intubated Wednesday, 11 are aged 18 to 39.