Update – 22/10/2021
October 22, 2021
As of the latest update by the Greek authorities, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 diagnosed cases in Greece 707,587. 34 new deaths were reported raising the total number to 15,519. The number of patients treated in intensive care units is currently 347. 3,407 new cases were announced yesterday in Greece. 703 of the new cases were found in the Attica region and 496 new cases in the Thessaloniki region.
Hundreds of state hospital workers marched Thursday through central Athens as part of a 24-hour strike to protest staff shortages and compulsory coronavirus vaccinations.
About 500 protesters demonstrated in the center of the capital, heading past parliament toward the health ministry chanting slogans and holding up banners.
Unions representing the doctors, nurses and other medical staff are protesting government plans they say exacerbate staffing shortages and lead to long working hours while undermining workers’ rights. Medical workers are also seeking to be included in the list of professions receiving extra hazard pay for “heavy and unhealthy” work.
The unions have also objected to the suspension of unvaccinated health care workers, saying this only leads to further staff shortages. Faced with rising infections and reluctance by many to get vaccinated, the government has introduced a series of incentives and penalties to encourage Greeks to get their anti-Covid-19 shots.
Vaccinations have been made mandatory for health care workers and those working in care homes for the elderly, with those who refuse being suspended from work. Just over 60% of the country’s population of around 11 million people are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
The unions say that while they support vaccinations, individual staff members should have the right to choose.
Greece has seen a spike in coronavirus infections this summer, and new daily cases stand at around 3,000. On Wednesday, the country saw 3,279 new cases and 38 new deaths, bringing the total confirmed cases to over 704,000 and the total death toll to nearly 15,500 in the country of nearly 11 million.
A fourth wave of Covid-19 infections in Greece is “unavoidable,” a Health Ministry official said on Thursday, as the country struggles with a new rise in numbers.
Asked why the government lifted recently more health restrictions considering the looming surge in new cases, the Health Ministry secretary general for Primary Health Care, Marios Themistokleous, said: “The economy, society must open up. Lockdowns cannot be introduced [again]…we still have measures in place, it is not open for all, but the more we are vaccinated, the more we can return to normalcy.”
“The [only] way in medicine to get rid of or defeat a pandemic is through vaccination…so all our fellow citizens should be convinced to get vaccinated. There is no other way,” he told broadcaster ANT1.
Themistokleous also said that the National Vaccination Committee is considering green-lighting booster shots for people under the age of 50.
Health authorities have been reporting more than 3,000 new cases daily since the start of the week, with 3,279 infections announced on Wednesday by the National Organization for Public Health (EODY).
In more detail, the 3,407 new cases detected per Regional Unit: