Update – 23/07/2021
July 23, 2021
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As of the latest update by the Greek authorities, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 diagnosed cases in Greece 469,042. 5 new deaths were reported raising the total number to 12,875. The number of patients treated in intensive care units is currently 126. 2,604 new cases were announced yesterday in Greece. 1,066 of the new cases were found in the Attica region and 243 new cases in the Thessaloniki region.
More than 4,500 local and foreign tourists have been stopped from boarding ferries to the Greek islands in the last week because they did not have the necessary Covid documents, according to Shipping Minister Yiannis Plakiotakis.
After a surge in coronavirus cases, the Greek coast guard was on July 13 brought in to check that tourists have the right paperwork, apparently because port authorities had been failing to do it properly.
“The checks by coast guard officials are strict and they are executed with speed and efficiency,” Plakiotakis told journalists during a visit to the Port of Piraeus on Friday.
“Regrettably more than 4,500 people were stopped from boarding ferries in the past week,” he said.
As lawmakers in Parliament Thursday evening passed the amendment for the mandatory vaccination of health and care workers, authorities sounded the alarm over a shift in the spread of the coronavirus noted in the past week, from the 20-25 age group to 40-60 year-olds.
According to the data provided Thursday by the professor of infectious diseases at Athens University and member of the Health Ministry’s committee of experts Vana Papaevangelou, the percentage of confirmed infections in the last week in adults over the age of 40 has increased significantly to constitute almost 30% of new cases. In the week from July 12 to 18, a total of 3,163 cases were recorded in adults aged 40 to 60 years old, which means an increase of 75% compared to the week before that for this age group.
Papaevangelou said this increase goes hand-in-hand with a rise in hospitalizations that have now exceeded 1,000 after several weeks. If this trend continues, she said, it will lead to renewed pressure on the national health system. Significantly, increased admissions are seen to be directly related to the relatively low vaccination rate of this age group, which does not exceed 65%.
“This means that one in three people aged 40 to 60 has not been vaccinated. And they are the parents of people who are now on the islands and will be returning with the virus in their luggage,” the expert stressed, calling on people in that age group to get their shots as soon as possible. “There is no excuse for postponing vaccination until September,” she noted, adding that the country is in “a race to vaccinate as many people as possible now.”
She also highlighted that 99% of intubated Covid patients in intensive care units are unvaccinated or only partly vaccinated. “Only 42 of the 4,600 patients who were intubated from last February until a week ago were vaccinated,” Papaevangelou said.
Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias confirmed on Thursday that unvaccinated people working in tourism-related businesses anywhere in the country must undergo two Covid-19 tests per week.
On the recommendation of the Health Ministry’s committee of experts, workers must take one self-test and one rapid test a week to track possible infection. The results of the tests will have to be published on the Labor Ministry’s Ergani digital platform.
Last week, the committee had advised two tests per week for unvaccinated employees in the restaurant sector and in six specific regions with a high viral load.
In more detail, the 2,604 new cases detected per Regional Unit:
