Health minister in favor of complete lockdown for Greek capital

Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias appears to be in favor of much stricter lockdown measures for the Greek capital, in a bid to stem a surge in the number of coronavirus infections and hospital admissions, he indicated on Tuesday.

Confirming Kathimerini’s earlier reports on the issue, Kikilias told Open TV on Tuesday morning that the analyses by experts over the past few weeks have indicated that Greece is entering the third wave of the pandemic, dictating tougher restrictions, and especially for Attica where infection numbers have been spiking.

“According to EKAV, 231 patients were intubated on February 6, 245 on February 7 and 260 on February 8,” he said, referring to the Greek ambulance service by its acronym.

“That is a daily increase of 15, with 10 of those being in Attica, which means one intensive care unit being filled every day,” he added.

Kikilias’ comments come after raw sewage analyses showed a 205% increase in the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the week between January 29 and February 5 and on the back of a steady increase in hospital admissions reported by the National Organization for Public Health (EODY), among other data.