New Covid drugs expected early 2022, says minister

New drugs for the treatment of Covid-19 are expected in Greece in early 2022, Health Minister Thanos Plevris told Mega TV on Monday, nevertheless stressing the need to ramp up vaccinations in the country where the percentage of fully vaccinated individuals remains under 60 percent.

Deputy Health Minister Mina Gaga last week said the Greek state was weighing how it could proceed with orders of the Merck pill that treats symptoms of the coronavirus.

Plevris on Monday also dismissed reports published over the weekend that experts are considering the introduction of stricter measures in some designated areas due to persistent high Covid-19 infection rates.

The reports emerged as the government decided to end measures such as curfews in red areas and to allow the vaccinated to attend entertainment spaces with music and no distancing restrictions.

The government is only considering the simplification of measures for so-called “mixed” areas, Plevris said.

Health authorities announced 1,712 new cases of the coronavirus for the 24-hour period ending 3 p.m. Sunday, as well as 27 deaths.

The number of patients on ventilators was 357 early Sunday afternoon, down from 361 a day earlier, but up from 333 last Sunday.

The Attica region had the largest number of new cases, with 332, followed by Thessaloniki, with 265. 

Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 693,886 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 15,375 fatalities.