Update – 11/11/2020

As of the latest update by the Greek authorities on Tuesday, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 diagnosed cases in Greece is 60,570. 41 new deaths were reported raising the total number to 866. The number of patients treated in intensive care units stands at 263. 2,384 new cases were announced yesterday in Greece, raising the daily number above 2,000. 588 of the new cases were found in the Attica region.

An emergency plan for northern Greece is being implemented by the Health Ministry to help hospitals cope with the mounting pressure from the coronavirus pandemic. Tellingly, Tuesday morning, out of the 118 Covid intensive care beds in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, just eight were vacant, while there was a point during the day when their number was reduced to three. Respectively, in Attica, out of the 164 Covid ICU beds, 48 were vacant Tuesday morning. The Health Ministry will provide an additional 50 beds in Thessaloniki, from the conversion of neurosurgical, cardiac, and vascular surgery units into Covid ICUs with the equipment that the ministry has as a strategic stock.

Health authorities have confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections in at least 16 out of the country’s 34 jails, involving both employees and detainees, the Hellenic Prison Workers’ Federation (OSYE) said on Tuesday and called for more measures to stop the spread of the virus. “The narrative that some people have painstakingly created that ‘Greece can be proud because no cases have been recorded in the penitentiaries’ has now collapsed,” the union said in a press release. OSYE said that “nobody can know” if and how many people are infected on a weekly basis as, despite “repeated requests” from the union and the recommendations of the experts, no tests are conducted on a regular basis even when there is a confirmed case.

The European Commission will approve on Wednesday a contract for the supply of the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, its President Ursula von der Leyen said. “Tomorrow we will authorise a contract for up to 300 million doses of the vaccine developed by German company BioNTech and Pfizer,” von der Leyen said in a statement.

The percentage of all coronavirus tests performed in Thessaloniki that come back positive stands at 32 percent, which suggests higher transmission in the community, Health Minister Vasilis Kikilias said on Tuesday. Presenting data from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki during a press briefing on the current state of the national healthcare system, the minister said more than 2 million PCR and rapid antigen tests have been conducted nationwide since the start of the pandemic.

The next 15 days are seen as crucial regarding the course of the pandemic due to its unpredictability as well as the apparently relaxed reaction of the public to the lockdown. The first two days of the nationwide lockdown reflected what has been described as the public’s pandemic fatigue, given that citizens appear far less prepared to implement restrictive measures compared to the first lockdown earlier in the year. And it is not just the 1 million text messages that were sent, according to government spokesman Stelios Petsas, on Sunday after 9 p.m. for exercise or to walk pets that are of concern, but the streets of the capital on Monday, which did not appear to the casual observer to be in lockdown, with limited but relatively normal traffic on the streets.

The 13033 hotline granting individuals permission to leave their homes was inundated with more than 8.6 million requests in the first two days of the new lockdown, Digital Governance Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis said on Tuesday. Speaking to Skai television, Pierrakakis said the system processed around 4.7 million requests on Saturday and 3.9 million on Sunday, which was a “slightly higher” than in the same phase of the first lockdown. During the spring lockdown, the hotline processed 110 million requests in the first 42 days of operation, an average of around 2.6 million messages a day. He said that an increase by about a million a day is expected in the second lockdown, as a result of elementary schools being open and parents seeking permission to shuttle their children back and forth.

Regarding yesterday’s 2.384 cases:

50 were detected during the tests carried out at Greece’s entry points

588 cases were detected in the regional unit of Attica

652 cases were detected in the regional unit of Thessaloniki

12 cases were detected in the regional unit of Aitoloakarnania

13 cases were detected in the regional unit of Argolida

7 cases were detected in the regional unit of Arkadia

6 cases were detected in the regional unit of Arta

20 cases were detected in the regional unit of Achaia

15 cases were detected in the regional unit of Voiotia

6 cases were detected in the regional unit of Grevena

52 cases were detected in the regional unit of Drama

45 cases were detected in the regional unit of Evros

6 cases were detected in the regional unit of Evoia

14 cases were detected in the regional unit of Evritania

1 case was detected in the regional unit of Zakinthos

9 cases were detected in the regional unit of Ilia

62 cases were detected in the regional unit of Imathia

21 cases were detected in the regional unit of Iraklio

1 case was detected in the regional unit of Thassos

5 cases were detected in the regional unit of Thesprotia

19 cases were detected in the regional unit of Ioannina

44 cases were detected in the regional unit of Kavala

49 cases were detected in the regional unit of Karditsa

1 case was detected in the regional unit of Karpathos

9 cases were detected in the regional unit of Kastoria

17 cases were detected in the regional unit of Kerkyra

1 case was detected in the regional unit of Kefalonia

16 cases were detected in the regional unit of Kilkis

10 cases were detected in the regional unit of Kozani

13 cases were detected in the regional unit of Korinthos

1 case was detected in the regional unit of Kos

3 cases were detected in the regional unit of Lakonia

164 cases were detected in the regional unit of Larissa

1 case was detected in the regional unit of Lasithi

38 cases were detected in the regional unit of Lesvos

5 cases were detected in the regional unit of Limnos

53 cases were detected in the regional unit of Magnisia

13 cases were detected in the regional unit of Messinia

1 case was detected in the regional unit of Mykonos

32 cases were detected in the regional unit of Xanthi

38 cases were detected in the regional unit of Pellas

43 cases were detected in the regional unit of Pieria

2 cases were detected in the regional unit of Preveza

6 cases were detected in the regional unit of Rethimno

36 cases were detected in the regional unit of Rodopi

9 cases were detected in the regional unit of Rodos

43 cases were detected in the regional unit of Serres

2 cases were detected in the regional unit of Syros

17 cases were detected in the regional unit of Trikala

7 cases were detected in the regional unit of Fthiotida

5 cases were detected in the regional unit of Florina

7 cases were detected in the regional unit of Fokida

37 cases were detected in the regional unit of Chalkidiki

13 cases were detected in the regional unit of Chania

2 cases were detected in the regional unit of Chios

42 cases remain under investigation

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