Intubations rise in Greece but millions of new vaccine doses are expected to arrive

The number of intubations in those receiving treatment for the coronavirus has risen in Greece in the last 24 hours, health authorities announced on Wednesday, according to greekreporter.com.

The total number of intubated patients in the country grew to 313 from 309 on Tuesday.

Their average age was 70 and 86.9% of them suffer from an underlying condition.

At the same time, 13 patients died with Covid-19, raising the total number of fatalities in Greece to 6,194.

Of these, 95.6 percent had an underlying condition and/or were aged 70 or more.

According to the latest data from the National Organization for Public Health (EODY), 755 new coronavirus infections were recorded on Wednesday, 366 fewer than the 1,121 whose deaths were recorded on Tuesday.

The number of confirmed infections since the pandemic erupted, including all those who have recovered from the virus, is now 174,659 in Greece.

In the last seven days, 52 confirmed cases have been linked to incoming travelers and 1,558 to already-confirmed cases.

The following diagram shows the upward trend in the daily new cases of coronavirus in Greece since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.

Millions of new doses set to arrive

Pfizer and BioNTech have agreed to supply an additional 200 million doses of their coronavirus vaccine to the European Union, the companies announced on Wednesday.

This massive shipment will be sent in addition to the 300 million doses the pharmaceutical giant has already promised in a former agreement.

The EU is expected to receive all of the 200 million doses this year, with some 75 million arriving in the second quarter of the year.

In a statement, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, a Thessaloniki native, announced on Wednesday:

“With this new agreement with the European Commission, we now expect to deliver enough doses to vaccinate at least 250 million Europeans before the end of the year.”

At the same time, the EU announced that it has reached an agreement with Moderna to supply an additional 150 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine this year.

This almost doubles the number of doses it has secured for 2021 from the Massachusetts-based biotechnology company.

Under the deal, the European Union also has the option of purchasing another 150 million doses of the mRNA-based vaccine next year as well.

Vaccinations resume

Due to adverse weather conditions, coronavirus vaccinations in the Attica region resumed at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, the Health Ministry revealed.

All appointments already booked between 8:00 AM and midday Wednesday were rescheduled, added the Ministry.

Vaccinations that had been scheduled for Tuesday were canceled due to the extreme weather conditions.

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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Martino Gian