new year holidays without viruses they don’t happen. Especially this year when its seasonal peak flu starts early, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) severely affects both young children and adults. In the same time COVID-19although it is not dominant over other respiratory viruses for the first time since its emergence to date, it continues to infect a large percentage of the population and pose a threat mainly to vulnerable populations.

Doctor visits by people with flu symptoms have shown a continuous increase since the end of October, already far exceeding the corresponding picture of last year, when COVID-19 dominated. It is significant that in the second week of December, 10% of all visits to doctors were for patients with influenza, which is twice as much as during the peak of last year’s seasonal flu season. The positivity rate for influenza this week was 34%, while the positivity rate for COVID-19 was 8%.

The way to protect yourself is to follow the rules of hygiene, avoid contact, wash your hands regularly and wear a mask.

“Influenza is currently widespread among the child population, but it now appears to be increasing in the older age group as well. From a laboratory study of samples collected by his COMY EODI from symptomatic patients, it is concluded that RSV also has a similar trend with high rates of positivity.” said K. Vice President of EODY, Associate Professor of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine of the Faculty of Medicine of the EKPA Dimitris Paraskevis. After all, this demonstrates the image of children’s hospitals in the emergency department, where hundreds of children with viruses are examined on each call: at Agia Sophia, the waiting time at the TEP reaches eight hours, at Aglaya Kyriakou 5 hours and at Peydon Pentelis two hours (unusually for this hospital). However, according to Mr. Paraskevi, at the moment, influenza incidence rates are no higher than in the last virus season before the pandemic (2019-2020), although we have not yet seen the peak of this epidemic wave. “The difference is mainly that it came earlier,” he notes.

On the contrary, the evolution of COVID-19 is stable both in terms of incidence and hospitalizations. Last week, about 47,500 cases were registered (-9% compared to the week before registration), and there were 1343 new hospitalizations (-6%). There was a slight increase in the number of intubated patients, which after many weeks exceeded 100 (104), as well as in the number of weekly deaths of patients with COVID-19 (150). “There may be some ups and downs in COVID-19 rates, but that doesn’t change the overall picture that the COVID-19 epidemic has stabilized,” Mr. an era in which, for the first time since its emergence, COVID-19 is not dominant over other respiratory viruses.” As he explains, there is constant competition between viruses. While immunity in the community favored the coronavirus, it prevailed over other viruses. Now everything has changed. On the one hand, a large percentage of the population is immune to COVID-19 due to vaccination and the fact that many fell ill in the summer, on the other hand, immunity to other viruses, which is largely formed due to our exposure to them, is not. “Thus, it can be said that the scales have tipped towards other respiratory viruses,” he concludes.

The main way to protect yourself from respiratory infections is to practice good hygiene, avoid contact, wash your hands regularly and wear a mask. There are also vaccines for COVID-19 and influenza. According to the Ministry of Health, 11% of the general population received the 2nd and/or 3rd booster dose of COVID-19, with this percentage exceeding 30% among those over 60 years of age. By the middle of last week, 24% of the population had been vaccinated against the flu.

Without a prescription and free

Citizens belonging to risk groups for serious illnesses can get the flu vaccine without a prescription at pharmacies in the country. The Ministry of Health has officially given this opportunity since the beginning of the week. The vaccine is provided free of charge and is reimbursed by EOPYY and insurance funds. Pharmacists are required to register vaccinations in the HDIKA Special Influenza Vaccination Registry. The flu shot can be given without a doctor’s prescription for people 60 years of age or older and adults who report aggravating factors or chronic conditions such as respiratory disease, heart disease, diabetes, obesity, neurological disease, and chronic liver and kidney disease. , immunocompromised, pregnant, homeless, close contact with young children (under 6 months of age) or living with people with an underlying medical condition and healthcare workers.