"Athens is not doing well", says Australian-born immunologist Sotiris Tsiodras

Experts are concerned about the epidemiological situation of the novel virus in Athens, Infectious disease specialist Sotiris Tsiodras said on Wednesday.

His comments were made outside a nursing home in Agios Panteleimonas, central Athens, after 32 positive cases of coronavirus were detected.

"The dispersal in such places that do not receive visitors is usually done by the staff," he pointed out, adding "Athens is not doing well" in terms of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic.

Authorities are urging young people living or interacting with elderly parents or grandparents to exercise extreme caution by keeping their distance and always wearing a mask when this is not possible.

"It's a situation we do not want to see again and, unfortunately, we continue to see it. They learnt their lesson in Thessaloniki and now they are doing well", Tsiodras concluded.

Greece recorded 354 new cases of COVID-19 in the latest 24-hour reporting period, the largest daily spike since the first case was registered in the country in late February.

This raises the total number of cases to 18,475.

2,927 are considered to be related to travel from abroad and 7,598 are related to an already known case.

Seventy-eight individuals are in ICU. Their median age is 69 years, and 22 of them are women. 87.2% have an underlying condition or are aged 70 years and above.

A total of 212 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic in Greece.

The country’s pandemic death toll stands at 391. The median age of all was 78 years and 96.7% of the deceased had an underlying condition and/or age of 70 years or more.

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