The threat of the COVID-19 pandemic should be taken seriously, but not overestimated, as a second wave of the disease in Greece is unlikely, Fedor Ignatiadis, the head of the therapeutic department of Euroclinic of Athens hospital, told Sputnik
ATHENS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 29th July, 2020) The threat of the COVID-19 pandemic should be taken seriously, but not overestimated, as a second wave of the disease in Greece is unlikely, Fedor Ignatiadis, the head of the therapeutic department of Euroclinic of Athens hospital, told Sputnik.
The first case of infection was confirmed in Greece on February 26. The total number of cases now stands at 4,279, and 203 people died from the disease. Amid the steady increase in new infections in recent days, the Greek authorities have required citizens to wear masks in closed spaces, with the fine for violators set at 150 Euros ($176).
"It is pointless to wait for the second wave all over the world. Each country will have its own epidemiological situation. When the world was globalized and without borders, we could talk about a single epidemiological model, as the world was unprotected. Now, each country has its own schedule, its own mode of border operation. Consequently, we cannot say where the second wave will be. It may be in Romania and is already on the way. Romania is undergoing peak times since the beginning of the pandemic. There is the second wave in Romania, Serbia," Ignatiadis, who also chairs the Greek-Russian club Dialogos, said.
According to him, the daily increment in Greece rose slightly after the tourist season opened, but this cannot be called a second wave.
"The tourist season has opened in Greece, and I would say that the opening was very successful. If in the first days there were 10-20 cases of infection among tourists, now there are fewer cases three, five or seven per day. This is a very low figure, given that more than 100,000 tourists enter Greece every day. Accordingly, in recent days, new cases have stabilized at the level of 20-30 per day. This is not much, compared to the data for other countries," Ignatiadis stated.
According to the doctor, the Greek government's move to introduce the requirement to wear face masks was rather a political decision, as the authorities "fear losing the political capital it earned."
