At noon and Friday morning, May 21, Dr. Petros Karagiannis was hosted. Dr. Karagiannis said that he was surprised by yesterday's number of cases, which after months was in double digits. However, 2 deaths were recorded.
Dr. Karagiannis stated that he expected that we would stay for a while longer in numbers that would exceed 100 cases. "I hope we fall even further to allow us in a week to have the cumulative impact per 100 thousand that will place us in the green category of the ECDC," he said.
Asked to answer the criteria by which the ECDC decides the classification into categories, he said that, "this classification takes into account the percentage of positivity and the cumulative effect per 100 thousand in 14 days".
Regarding now why the drop in cases is due, Dr. Karagiannis explained that this is probably due to three factors:
- Two weeks of restrictive measures did work and gave breath.
- Mass vaccinations.
- We have entered the high temperatures now because we gather outdoors where the transmission of the virus is not favored.
Are we throwing masks in the footsteps of Israel in June?
The current decree expires at the end of the month. With this in mind, towards the end of next week, decisions will have to be made, said Dr. Karagiannis.
Clearly any relaxations will depend on the good epidemiological picture.
Dr. Karagiannis expressed the belief that if the vaccination coverage is increased, then we will be led to the point where Israel has reached, to remove the mask outdoors.
Unity and elections
If and when we passed the Omonia celebrations without bloodshed, which we all saw and worried about, then the elections will end without bloodshed, said Dr. Karagiannis, when asked about the rallies in view of the parliamentary elections.