Signs curve could start to flatten by end of month

With hospitals around the country near to breaking point under the pandemic’s growing pressure, the first signs have emerged that the restrictive measures may be beginning to work, according to recent sewage water analysis in Thessaloniki and Athens that showed a reduction of the viral load. 

“I think that we are starting, possibly from the middle and toward the end of this week, to flatten the curve of Thessaloniki,” said the rector of the northern port city’s Aristotle University, Nikos Papaioannou.

He said the curve was rising last week, although not as exponentially as in October, and estimated that by the end of the month we will probably see the “coveted fall.” A similar de-escalation was also predicted for Attica by Nikos Thomaidis, professor of analytical chemistry at Athens University. 

Meanwhile on Tuesday, health authorities reported 2,422 new infections, driving the total to 78,825, and another 63 deaths, raising total fatalities to 1,228.