Authorities concerned over second phase of the pandemic
Ahead of the winter season, health experts and government officials insist that it is imperative that safety measures are strictly observed given fears that the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic could spiral out of control at any moment. The steady but not exponential rise in cases so far still leaves room for the virus’ containment, the experts say.
“The main issue is the observance of existing measures and not the imposition of new ones,” government sources insist, noting that Greece is still doing better than many other European countries in tackling the second wave of the pandemic.
The same sources add that “if all goes well, the first doses of a coronavirus vaccine are expected by the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021.”
According to health experts, one of the major factors conducive to the spread of the diseases are people who are infected by have no symptoms of the virus, whose percentage ranges from 30% to 50% of total cases.
Data recently presented by the head of the Epidemiological Surveillance Directorate of the National Public Health Organization (EODY), Flora Kontopidou, from the analysis of the cases reported to the organization until September 14, showed that 2,395 cases (29.8%) had no symptoms at diagnosis and 5,640 (70.2%) were symptomatic patients.
The mean age of the asymptomatic was 39.3 years old and of the symptomatic 43.6. In addition, a serum epidemiological study by Athens University among 2,500 members of the university community showed that 1% had antibodies to the coronavirus, which means they were infected with the virus, and one in three of them had no symptoms.
