For her recession COVID-19 in a “gloomy landscape” due to indications of cases of infection coronavirusbut with a high and even rising number of deaths, experts say, who believe the most likely scenario would be to keep relatively high numbers of deaths throughout the summer. infectionsbut with further increase pandemic since autumn.

According to his latest report EODIlast week in our country 122,230 outbreaks diseases against 136,077 for the week of July 18-24. On average, 17,461 cases were registered per day against 19,436.

EODY announced last week 355 deaths, which means more than 50 deaths of patients with COVID-19 per day. Compared to the week of July 18-24, the death rate increased by 21% (271 deaths). Last week, 70% of reported deaths involved people aged 80 and over, while 20% were between the ages of 70 and 79.

A slight drop is recorded in the number of hospitalized patients (2558 hospitalized last week, while 2609 patients with COVID-19 were hospitalized yesterday morning), while the situation in intensive care units is assessed as manageable, where 147 patients were hospitalized yesterday.

“There is indeed a recession, but the epidemiological surveillance is taking place in a cloudy environment, as the underreporting of cases has become large. Now more and more of those who are sick find it through Self assessment test and happy with it” notes on “K” Professor of Microbiology, Director of the Laboratory of Microbiology and Vice-Rector of ECPA, Athanasios Tsakris.

As he points out, “it is very likely that we will see a further downturn. The most likely scenario is that – albeit at a lower level than now – the number of infections will remain relatively high throughout the summer. That is why it is very important that the more vulnerable groups have quick access to antiviral drugs. The relevant procedures have been smoothed out somewhat, but there is room for substantial improvement.”

Commenting on the very high number of deaths recorded in our country, Mr. Tsakris emphasizes: “Deaths are an indicator that needs to be carefully analyzed and viewed through various prisms; for example, it is particularly important to consider the different stages of an epidemic depending on how much excess mortality is affected.

There are known cases of patients admitted to the hospital due to various serious health problems, but they tested positive for the coronavirus. Here’s how they were reported as COVID-19 related deaths. It is not always easy to establish whether a particular infection worsened their health status and to what extent.”

The number of infected people is expected to remain high. This is why quick access to antivirals for more vulnerable groups is so important, experts say.

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Professor of Pulmonology at the 2nd EKPA Pulmonology Clinic at Attikon Hospital Stelios Loukidis, K reports.“Based on our own clinical experience at Attikon, in the past two months, the deaths have mostly been in older people with many comorbidities.

In 30% of cases, patients went to the hospital with other health problems and tested positive for COVID-19.” Asked if COVID-19 has worsened their health, Mr. Loukidis says: “With all reservations, I tell you no.” According to him, at this stage, the movement towards ICU COVID-19 it’s manageable. “We are not seeing very severe pneumonias that we have seen in other waves. To give you an idea, we have reduced the introduction of high-flow nasal oxygenation by 80%. The intensive care beds for COVID-19 are not under pressure. However, simple beds are overwhelmed, which means an overall burden on hospitals.”

According to Athanasios Tsakris, “The high number of deaths is also related to the long-term problems facing the national health system – with a high frequency of nosocomial infections due to multidrug-resistant microbes and a lack of interconnection of healthcare structures, to the inability to control the application of therapeutic protocols.”

Explosion in autumn

Both experts and health authorities expect a new outbreak of the epidemic in the fall. As Mr. Tsakris points out, “it is likely, given that the number of cases will increase from the autumn months, since with the return of indoor activities, many of those who remained ‘unscathed’ during the current wave are likely to be infected.” Omicron”. What will judge the severity of the next wave? The predominance of new strains that will be able to avoid the immune response that we may have accumulated so far.”

European control center

In countries with a rising trend in COVID-19 deaths, this includes European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC) our country in its latest epidemiological report. According to ECDC, from July 11 to July 24, 47.3 cases of death of patients with COVID-19 per million people were recorded in our country.

Only Malta had more deaths relative to population (50.4 per million population), followed by Greece, Norway (33.6), Croatia (27.3) and Italy (22.7). However, it is worth noting that there are differences in the registration of deaths between countries. According to ECDC, an increase in the number of deaths in the coming week is expected in 19 out of 30 countries (European Union and European Economic Area), namely in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Sweden.