Pandemic unrelenting as deaths climb
Despite drop in cases, intubations, fatalities remain high, while Omicron subvariant appears
With the main pandemic indicators of deaths and intubations still at high levels, Greece is still not out of the woods, despite a relative drop in coronavirus cases after a spike earlier in the month.
More specifically, deaths Friday again reached triple digits (108) and the number of intubations remained consistently high at 679, while the average of the last seven days is 680. Hospital admissions throughout Greece stood at 467. Health authorities also confirmed 20,507 new cases of Covid-19.
At the same time, two cases of a Omicron subvariant were detected in Greece, concerning travelers from abroad arriving at Athens International Airport.
The two individuals who are now in isolation are infected with the BA.2 Omicron subvariant.
Three subvariants of Omicron have been identified by scientists, BA.1, BA.2 and BA.3, with the first being the dominant type in most Omicron-cases around the world.
The subvariant BA.2 has already been identified in several countries and carries additional mutations to those possessed by Omicron.
It is not yet clear whether BA.2 is more dangerous than BA.1.
According to what was recently stated by assistant professor of Epidemiology of Athens University Gikas Magiorkinis, the subvariant has been designated as a stealth version because it has a mutation that makes it undetectable by the standardized method used to identify Omicron in molecular tests.
Of the new cases confirmed Friday, almost four in 10 (7,574) were detected in Attica, 1,900 in Thessaloniki and 1,937 on Crete. The pandemic is also surging in the popular island destinations of Mykonos and Santorini, with 77 and 86 cases respectively.
These regional units have also recorded the most cases in terms of population ratio.
Since the start of the pandemic, there have been 1,762,870 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 22,476 fatalities. Of those fatalities, 95% had an underlying condition and/or were aged 70 or over.
Indicatively, of the total intubated patients yesterday, 80.74% are unvaccinated.
In the confirmed cases of the last seven days, 433 infections are related to travel from abroad and 2,643 to other confirmed cases.
