Emergency surgeries will not be interrupted, says minister

After the Greek government directed hospitals to halt all non-emergent procedures as ICU admissions surged amid a spike in Covid-19 cases, Health Minister Thanos Plevris on Wednesday reassured that emergency surgery will not be affected by the decision.

“No human life will be put at risk and no emergency surgery will be postponed,” said Plevris, adding that, if necessary, the government would turn to private clinics to ease the backlog of surgeries.

The number of new Covid-19 infections jumped to 8,100 on Tuesday after 7,287 a day before, based on official figures.

Deaths from the coronavirus disease stood at 91, after recording a year-high in daily fatalities on Monday with 105, while the number of intubations eased to 597 from 608 the day before.

A total of 17,517 Covid-related deaths have been recorded since the start of the pandemic in Greece.