Greece remains the only 'green' country on European coronavirus map

For three weeks, Greece has been the only country showing mostly green zones on the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) coronavirus map, indicating a low rate of novel coronavirus infections.

The map aims to support the Council Recommendation on a coordinated approach to the restriction of free movement in response to the pandemic.

Areas are marked in the following colours:

• green if the 14-day notification rate is lower than 25 cases per 100 000 and the test positivity rate below 4%
• orange if the 14-day notification rate is lower than 50 cases per 100 000 but the test positivity rate is 4% or higher or, if the 14-day notification rate is between 25 and 150 cases per 100 000 and the test positivity rate is below 4%
• red if the 14-day notification rate is 50 cases per 100 000 or higher and the test positivity rate is 4% or higher or if the 14-day notification rate is higher than 150 cases per 100 000
• grey if there is insufficient information or if the testing rate is lower than 300 cases per 100 000.

Epirus and the island groups of the Ionian, the Cyclades and the Dodecanese are currently the only green areas in Europe.

As the experts say, this means that in the entire Greece the pandemic positivity index is below the alarm limit (4 percent), something that does not happen in most European countries.

At the same time, most of Greece, is in the ‘orange zone’.

Latest covid-19 numbers in Greece

Greece recorded 716 new cases of COVID-19 in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

This raises the total number of cases to 154,796.

5,904 are considered to be related to travel from abroad and 48,259 are related to an already known case.

Two hundred and sixty-eight individuals are in ICU. Their median age is 68 years. 86.2% have an underlying condition or are aged 70 years and above.

A total of 1,095 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic in Greece.

The country’s pandemic death toll stands at 5,742. The median age of all was 79 years and 95.5% of the deceased had an underlying condition and/or age of 70 years or more.

Countries that handled COVID-19 best, compiled by the Lowy Institute

The COVID Performance Index compiled by the Lowy Institute ranked 98 countries’ handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Cyprus performed in the top 5, while Greece was ranked in 32nd place.