Intubations fall but deaths remain high
With an average of more than 100 Covid-19 patients dying on a daily basis over the the last 10 days, the current period of the pandemic is considered the most deadly.
Indicatively, health authorities on Wednesday announced 106 new Covid-related fatalities, raising the total death toll since the beginning of the pandemic to 23,721. Roughly seven out of 10 deaths confirmed Wednesday involved people aged 80 and over.
The number of new confirmed coronavirus cases came to 18,825 from a total of 311,547 tests, i.e. a positive rate of 6%. Of these cases 5,189 were identified in Attica, 2,241 in Thessaloniki and 1,527 in Crete. High infection rates were also recorded on Wednesday on the islands of Mykonos, Kos and Corfu, and in the regions of Evros and Rodopi.
The number of patients on ventilators continued to inch down, with 561 compared to 563 the day before. However, new hospital admissions of patients with Covid increased to 521 against 454 on Tuesday.
Tellingly, the gap between admissions and discharges due to recovery is closing, which is leading to a gradual easing of the pressure on the national health system.
Last week, admissions stood at 3,029 with discharges at 2,678. The ratio of admissions to discharges due to recovery was 1.1 compared to 1.16 a week before, 1.22 in the second week of January and 1.6 in the first week of January.
The number of school-age children who became ill compared to the total number of cases remained stable last week. More specifically, 40,843 children aged 4 to 18 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, which amounts to 32% of the total number of cases detected.
