First Covid-19 patients from northern Greece transferred to Athens

Three patients with Covid-19 from the region of Drama were airlifted to hospitals in Athens on Thursday, as hospitals in northern Greece reached capacity due to a surge of the virus.

The patients will be transferred in isolation capsules inside an Air Force C-130 aircraft that left from Elefsina’s military airport on Thursday morning and landed in the city of Kavala, state-run broadcaster ERT said.

The pressure of the second wave of the pandemic on the national healthcare system is increasing with data from the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) showing that 597 patients were in intensive care units on Wednesday.

Most new infections in the last 24 hours come from Thessaloniki (633), while a high viral load persists in Larissa (160), Pella (106), Magnesia (69) and Imathia (61).