Announcement on viral infections of the respiratory system (SARS-CoV-2, influenza viruses and respiratory syncytial virus – RSV) in our country for the week September 11, 2023 – September 17 2023 issued by EODY.

Influenza syndromes (regardless of pathogen)

✓ remain at low levels

SARS-CoV2 virus – COVID-19 infection

✓ the positivity in all the tested samples showed an increase compared to the previous one
week
✓ the number of admissions for COVID-19 (n=733) showed an increase compared to the previous one
week and a 14% increase over the average weekly number of new admissions during
previous 4 weeks
✓ the number of new intubations (n=8) showed a decrease compared to the previous week and
decrease compared to the average weekly number of new intubations during the previous 4
weeks (n=13)
✓ the number of patients with COVID-19 infection who are hospitalized with intubation is 25
✓ 39 deaths were recorded with a median age of 83 years (range 60-98 years)
✓ during the last weeks all sequenced strains belonged to the BA.2 sub-variant
✓ at week 35 the most frequent BA.2 sub-variant was EG.5 (35%), followed by XBB.1.16
(28%) and ChBB.1.5 (26%)✓ Regarding the new sub-variant of the Omicron strain, BA.2.86, which was designated as Variant Under Monitoring (VUM) by the World Health Organization
on 17/08/2023:

• the sub-variant has so far been detected in 20 countries and is now considered to have a global distribution

• due to a large number of mutations it carries, it is under surveillance regarding its transmissibility and the severity of the disease it causes

• based on the current epidemiological picture, it is not the dominant sub-variant in any
geographical area around the world

• in Greece a total of 5 positive samples of the BA.2.86 sub-variant have been recorded, with dates
sampling from 5 to 7 September

✓ surveillance of the viral load in municipal wastewater showed an increase in the circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 4
of the 6 areas checked

Influenza virus

✓ flu positivity in the community remains below 10% (sentinel)
✓ no new serious case of laboratory-confirmed influenza with hospitalization in ICU was registered on
week 37/2023, no new death from laboratory confirmed influenza
✓ from week 40/2022 to week 37/2023, 71 people with flu were hospitalized in ICU and
27 deaths were recorded
✓ during the same period, 378 samples positive for influenza viruses were recorded in the two influenza reference centers
(sentinel samples and hospital samples), of which 293 (77.5%) were type A strains and 85
(22.5%) type B strains
✓ of the 291 type A strains subtyped, 259 (89%) were classified as subtype A(H3N2) and
32 (11%) in subtype A(H1N1)pdm09

Respiratory syncytial virus – RSV

✓ all tested samples were negative for RSV