Greece registers highest number of COVID cases in weeks

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - Greece registered 2,147 coronavirus cases Tuesday, setting a new record daily high since the beginning of the year, with the largest number of infections occurring in the capital.

Athens alone recorded 1,047 new cases, nearly half the total, while the country’s second largest city, Thessaloniki, registered 205.

The number of confirmed infections since the start of the pandemic in the country has risen to 182,783, said the National Public Health Organization (EODY).

EODY also said that 22 people died from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of fatalities since the start of the pandemic to 6,343.

Some 357 patients are on ventilators nationwide, pushing intensive care units (ICUs) at hospitals to their limit.

Hospitals in the Attica region are almost full, with five of them at full capacity, according to health authorities.

The government has announced that it will make 38 additional intensive care beds available in order to meet growing demand.

Meanwhile, doctors at many hospitals went on strike Tuesday, protesting conditions at state hospitals.

Hundreds of health professionals marched in central Athens holding banners describing the “suffocating” conditions at state hospitals.