Alarm over new surge of viral diseases
Youngsters with respiratory infection symptoms should stay home, says health official
Deputy Health Minister Irini Agapidaki has advised parents not to send their children to school if they exhibit symptoms of a respiratory infection.
Speaking to Antenna TV on Thursday, Agapidaki said that even if children have taken a negative test for Covid, it would be best for them to stay at home and not go to school, as they may be suffering from another virus which they may transmit to their classmates and teachers.
Without considering the possibility of imposing the use of masks, the ministries of Health and Education are currently discussing the likelihood of giving instructions to the country’s educational institutions on what they should do in order to reduce the risk of viruses spreading.
Absences related to seasonal illnesses are likely to be managed so that they do not count towards the pupils’ total annual attendance.
The reopening of schools on Monday has raised the alarm among parents and teachers due to the huge outbreak of Covid-19 and influenza that has been documented in Greece for at least the last two weeks.
The number of patients seeing doctors with flu symptoms more than doubled last week, according to a reports by the National Public Health Organization (EODY).
Indicatively, cases of influenza accounted for over 15% of visits to doctors participating in the Network of Observers in Primary Health Care (excluding hospital doctors), compared to 7.5% in the week before Christmas. The greatest increase was observed in people aged 15 and over.
Regarding Covid-19, there was a considerable rise in new hospitalizations of coronavirus-infected patients, as well as an increase in patient intubations.
In the final week of 2023, 1,818 people required hospitalization with Covid-19, of which 31 were intubated. Similarly, there were 1,496 new hospitalizations and 13 intubations in the week before Christmas. It should be noted that simple hospitalizations due to Covid-19 are now higher than during the same period last year. There were 57 coronavirus-related deaths reported last week. The number of deaths had reached 154 in the comparable week of 2022.
Moreover, 179 strains of JN.1 (a sub variant of BA.2.86 estimated to have high transmissibility) have been detected, with sample dates ranging from October 3 to December 8. Surveillance of viral loads in urban wastewater showed an increase in the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in six of the nine sites tested.
