COVID-19: Hospital admissions increase in Greece, cases stabilise in tourist areas

The COVID-19 epidemic driven by the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants of the Omicron mutation is now in a stabilisation phase in Greece.

The increasing trend of coronavirus cases has significantly decreased in the "red" areas where the wave had risen since the beginning of June, namely in Attica, Crete, the Ionian Islands, the Cyclades and the Dodecanese.

The competent scientific and health authorities expect in the coming weeks that this will begin to be reflected in the admissions of patients with Covid-19 infection in hospitals, where they now continue unabated and at a high rate.

The upside of this wave, according to clinicians, is that it leaves behind patients with mild symptoms, as long as they have been vaccinated.

Hospitalisations are mainly elderly and vulnerable with serious diseases, but even in these cases, the pneumonias and in general the pulmonary effects that characterised the disease with the previous Delta mutation are not at all common.

That is why, after all, as they point out, the imprint of the epidemic wave on the Intensive Care Units (ICUs) is very faint. Indicatively, yesterday there were 119 people intubated, a particularly low number if we consider the tens of thousands of cases that are reported on a daily basis.

Active cases, i.e. people with an active Covid-19 infection, are estimated at 300,000.

More than 2,000 hospitalised in simple beds of the National Health Service

According to the data available to Proto Thema, in the past 24 hours, 451 new admissions due to coronavirus were recorded in the country's hospitals.

Almost half of them took place in Attica, especially in those of the 1st Health Region.

Another 105 admissions were recorded in the hospitals of northern Greece.

It is also important that many cases are incidentally diagnosed with coronavirus in the relevant screening before they are admitted to hospital for surgery or examination or other medical procedure.

The Minister of Health, Thanos Plevris recently reported that up to 35% of those hospitalised with coronavirus are detected when they visit a hospital for another health problem they are dealing with.

In total, those hospitalised in simple beds yesterday once again exceeded the 2,000, returning to the levels of last spring.

Specifically, 2,014 patients are hospitalised in simple beds, with experts pointing out that these are hospitalisations that do not last long and allow flexibility in the health system.

In the Units, the patients reach 500 – specifically, there are 490. Of these, 119 are intubated.

However, the large decoupling of cases and hospitalisations can be seen in the island country. Although the epidemic wave has been high in recent weeks in almost all the Ionian, Aegean islands and Crete, which is reflected in their viral load, patients with severe disease are moving at low levels.

For example, in Crete, 107 patients are being treated in simple beds in the island's hospitals. 36 patients are being treated in the hospitals of Corfu, Lefkada and Kefalonia.

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