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Virus load remained unchanged for a month, health experts say

Virus load remained unchanged for a month, health experts say

The virus load in Greece is at the same level today as it was in the beginning of November and easing any of the restrictive measures would not help, infectious disease expert and government adviser Gkikas Magiorkinis said on Monday.

“The epidemic could become explosive at any time,” he said at the daily press briefing on the pandemic, adding that the active cases remain “extremely high.”

The same view was echoed by Vana Papaevangelou, Athens University professor and government adviser, who said at the briefing that the pandemic is at a “steady course without major changes,” but many areas still have high number of infections.

She said 250 cases were recorded in Attica, 243 in Thessaloniki and 102 in Kilkis.

Papaevangelou also revealed that the expert committee advised the government against the reopening of schools for two reasons: the number of patients in intensive care units is still high and any opening would burden them further, and reopening of schools for only seven days  this year would not make much sense.

The government announced earlier on Monday that schools will remain closed until January 6.

Papaevangelou said they will be the first to reopen after the current lockdown which was extended for the most part until January 7.

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