Rise in Covid-19 cases, especially in tourist areas, younger age groups

The experts said the increase in cases is observed mainly in the 18-24 age group, while the rate remains stable for other age groups. There has also been an increase in reinfections and admissions to ordinary hospital beds each week over the same period, but this has not so far led to an increase in ICU admissions or more Covid-related deaths.

The NOPH president said that the problem was European-wide, with a constant increase in new cases in central, southern and northern countries in Europe. There was also a steady increase in the number of cases concerning people over 65, while hospital admissions were not at alarmingly high levels in most countries and the number of new cases on ventilators remained low in most European countries.

The dominant coronavirus variant in Greece and Europe is still Omicron, which appears to account for more than half of cases, and its sub-variants BA4 and BA5.