Greece’s Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias expressed his concern about the alarming levels of spread and the severity of covid-19 not only in the country, but specifically in lockdown Attica.
"I am particularly concerned about the progress of the disease in Attica and the rest of Greece. The disease is spreading in society. It is not an issue of treatment, it is an issue of public health," Kikilias said during an interview with Real FM on Tuesday.
Kikilias appealed to the public to make "one final effort" to abide by the measures and not bend the rules, undoing the efforts of the entire year now that the solution in the form of a vaccine was in sight.
He also noted that the number of Covid-19 beds in Attica's hospitals had increased since the start of the lockdown, from 1,673 ordinary Covid-19 beds to 2,064 and from 229 Covid-19 ICU beds to 312 at present.
"This demonstrates the huge pressure on the national health system and the very great effort made by our healthcare staff to help people," he added.
The minister said that Greece will soon reach the one-million vaccination mark and that this was a source of hope, as the more people are vaccinated the more quickly the pressure on the health system will subside and normality will return.
He estimated that Greece will have carried out 1,750,000 vaccinations by the end of March and that all Greeks above the age of 60 will have been vaccinated by May.
"We are also making progress with vulnerable groups. I think that it is clear that in March we will have many more vaccine doses than we did in February and January, while in April, May and June there will be even more," he continued.
Latest covid-19 numbers in Greece
Greece recorded 2,353 new cases of COVID-19 in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
This raises the total number of cases to 194,582.
Four hundred and twenty-two individuals are in ICU. Their median age is 68 years. 84.6% have an underlying condition or are aged 70 years and above.
A total of 1,364 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic in Greece.
The country’s pandemic death toll stands at 6,557. The median age of all was 79 years and 95.7% of the deceased had an underlying condition and/or age of 70 years or more.
*More on GCT: Greece ranks fourth in the European Union in vaccinations
