Covid cases, hospital admissions creep back up

Increases in confirmed cases, the positivity index and new hospitalizations due to Covid-19 have been recorded over the last few days, according to health authorities who note that the trend may be related to the dynamics of the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants that are now circulating in Greece.

The National Public Health Organization (EODY) on Wednesday announced 9,288 infections, which is the highest number of daily cases since the end of April.

The positivity rate last week reached 6.18% from 4.88% a week earlier.

Moreover, 126 new admissions of patients with Covid-19 were registered on Wednesday in hospitals around the country.

The average over the previous seven days was 104 patients.

However, the number of intubated patients remains on a downward course, with 103 on Wednesday, while 15 new deaths were reported.

Referring to the uptick in cases over recent days, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Athens Gkikas Magiorkinis told Kathimerini that “there seems to be a similar upward trend throughout Europe.”

“It fits in with what we call a systematic increase, which means that this is not an increase that may be due to a random event,” he noted.

In this context, the rise in cases is not believed to be linked to the lifting of the mask use mandate in most places since June 1.