Greece reports record-high daily COVID infections

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - Greece recorded 7,335 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, health authorities said Monday, marking the highest single-day tally since the beginning of the pandemic.

Friday was the second-highest daily tally with 6,909 new infections.

There are now 792,239 confirmed coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic.

Another 65 people died from the virus in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of pandemic victims to 16,361.

A total of 477 patients are on ventilators in hospitals. Of the total ICU patients, 402 (84.28%) are unvaccinated or partly vaccinated and 75 (15.72%) are fully vaccinated.

Doctors in the northern port city of Thessaloniki said that nearly all patients in ICUs are unvaccinated, while health authorities said that at least 300 people, 85%-87% of whom were not vaccinated, have died of COVID in Macedonia and Thrace in the last two weeks.

Hospital ICUs all over the country are almost at full capacity, especially in northern Greece.

Papanikolaou General Hospital in Thessaloniki started its shift Monday afternoon with zero beds.

Since the beginning of the month, the country has been seeing a sharp rise in daily cases, breaking the record almost three times and forcing authorities to take extra measures that came into effect on Saturday.

As of Saturday, unvaccinated people will need to produce a negative COVID-19 test to enter retail stores, banks and public offices, while unvaccinated employees are required to take two COVID tests per week.

Those who are already vaccinated will have to present their certificates to enter retail stores, restaurants and hair salons.