Just under 12% of rapid Covid-19 tests come back positive
Just under 12% of hundreds of rapid Covid-19 tests conducted by the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) on Thursday came back positive, the agency said in an announcement on Friday.
Mobile EODY units on Thursday took 1,250 samples from members of the public in Xanthi in northern Greece, in Tempe, Kileler, Lamia and Volos in the central mainland, and in Nafplio in the eastern Peloponnese. Of those, 11.8%, or 148 tests, came back positive, with the majority, 85, being men.
At 44.2%, Xanthi had the highest rate of infection, with 89 of 201 people tested found positive for the novel coronavirus. Their average age was 43 years old. Xanthi also accounted for the lion’s share of Thursday’s positive rapid tests, confirming fears of widespread community transmission of the virus in northern Greece.
Volos in the eastern mainland had the second-highest positive rate from Thursday’s rapid-testing campaign, with 44 positives from 368 samples (12%). Most, 24, were men, and the average age was 48 years old.
Lamia in central Greece had seven positives in 232 tests (average age 53), while in Tempe, just three men and one woman – with an average age of 40 – tested positive for the virus from among 100 samples. Kileler also reported four infections from a sample of 186. At 50 years old, the average age was higher.
Nafplio, meanwhile, had zero positives from a total of 163 rapid tests.
On Friday, EODY’s mobile units were carrying tests on the islands of Syros and Zakynthos, in a different part of Xanthi, in Drama, in Larissa and in Lamia.
