Greece’s Civil Protection Deputy Minister, Nikos Hardalias presented the government’s daily coronavirus briefing on Wednesday where it was announced the country had 78 news cases and 22 deaths to date.

During the press briefing, medical expert Sotiris Tsiodras, confirmed that Greece had reached 821 cases in total, out of which 134 people are hospitalised, most of whom (60%) are men, and of these 53 are in intensive care wards (average age of the latter, 67 years, mostly men and all with underlying medical conditions).

According to Tsiodras, the data suggests there is no exponential growth of infections from day to day, but 22 have died since the outbreak of the pandemic in Greece (average age: 75, 18 men, 4 women, all with underlying conditions). In addition, 36 people have been discharged from hospitals, and 10,000 diagnostic tests have taken place.

New lockdown

Civil Protection Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias announced that the community of Echinos, in the Miki area of Xanthi, northern Greece, went on lockdown from 18.00 on Wednesday to April 7.

Hardalias said 9 community members tested positive for the virus within the last 6 days and health specialists recommended the community’s isolation. Their supplies will be provided by the Xanthi municipal authorities, he clarified, until further evaluations.

Greek Students from Spain

Hardalias updated the public on the Greek students who had arrived from Spain with coronavirus infections and were isolated at a hotel. Of the 21 who had been found infected after repatriation in Greece, 20 had no symptoms at all to show they were infected and 1 did, he announced. But the 20 decided to continue staying at the hotel in order to avoid endangering their families and grandparents, Hardalias said, thanking them.

Noting that the briefing took place on Greek Independence Day, Hardalias commented that the Greek Revolution in 1821 “led to the founding the modern Greek state. (…) It is our turn now to unite our powers against a common and invisible enemy,” and expressed gratitude to the medical and nursing staff in Greece, “our front-line fighters today.”