Contagion rate ‘terrifying’
The transmission rate of the Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Greece is “terrifying,” according to the president of the National Organization for Public Health (EODY). “We will have an increase in cases this week and next, but we must look at the age [of those infected] and whether they end up in intensive care to be intubated, or we have deaths,” Panagiotis Arkoumaneas told Skai television yesterday, noting that 99% of Covid patients who end up in hospital or in intensive care have not been vaccinated. This is “a pandemic of the unvaccinated,” he said. The Delta variant is already dominant in new infections, with recent data suggesting that the percentage of those cases attributed to the specific mutation rises by about 10 points per week. “It will soon reach 70%,” Arkoumaneas said. “We now see it on the islands, especially the islands that are seeing a rise in infections.” Meanwhile, professor of pediatric infectious diseases and expert committee member Vana Papaevangelou warned yesterday that the Delta variant is 44 times more contagious than the original strain.
Island quake. An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.6 Richter struck off the eastern Aegean island of Tilos yesterday. There were no immediate reports of damage or injury. The Athens Geodynamic Institute said the undersea quake occurred at 5.16 p.m. local time, 19 kilometers off the island’s southwestern coast at a depth of 10 kilometers.
Teacher jabs.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis yesterday urged educators to get vaccinated against Covid-19 ahead of the start of the academic year in September, to prevent contagion in classrooms. “I call on educational staff, teachers and professors: Please, get vaccinated, so that we will be in a position to reopen our schools safely, with the least possible problems, in September,” he told an international conference organized by the Greek Health Ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) in Athens.
Conspiracy theories.
Church of Greece spokesman Bishop Athinagoras said yesterday that conspiracy theories are circulating within the church and its flock about microchips, barcodes and the number 666, suggesting a plan to control the population. Speaking to SKAI TV yesterday ahead of a circular that will be read out on Sunday at churches around the country in favor of vaccinations, Athinagoras said the concerns of the flock were conveyed by senior clergymen to the infectious disease specialist Sotiris Tsiodras, “who answered them all in good spirit and simple language without many scientific terms.” To allay these concerns, Athinagoras said a brochure will also be distributed on Sunday to churchgoers with 12 questions and answers about vaccines. “Christians should not worry as from the moment they are baptized and anointed no chip can control them,” he said.