Health officials meet over new Covid strains
Greek health officials will meet on Friday to discuss how to contain the new coronavirus variants.
The meeting, which will be chaired by Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias, will take place at the Health Ministry at 1.30 p.m. It will be attended by the president of the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, Dimitris Thanos, the president of National Public Health Organisation (EODY) Panagiotis Arkoumaneas, as well as epidemiology professors Sotiris Tsiodras, Giorgos Sourvinos, Dimitris Paraskevis and Gikas Magiorkinis.
Europe’s disease surveillance agency on Thursday warned that three mutant variants of the coronavirus that emerged in Britain, South Africa and Brazil pose a high risk in Europe and will lead to more Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths.
The variants, which contain mutations or changes to parts of the Covid-19-causing coronavirus that scientists say make them more transmissible, have already been detected in many countries in Europe and will likely continue to do so, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a risk assessment. [Kathimerini, Reuters]
