There is an increase in positivity for SARS-CoV2, according to the weekly (September 18, 2023 – September 24, 2023) epidemiological report of the EODY on viral infections of the respiratory system.

In more detail:

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=869) showed an increase compared to the previous one
week and a 30% increase over the average weekly number of new admissions during
previous 4 weeks
✓ the number of new intubations (n=16) showed an increase compared to the previous week,
as well as in relation to the average weekly number of new intubations during the previous 4
weeks (n=12)
✓ the number of patients with COVID-19 infection who are hospitalized with intubation is 33
✓ 35 deaths were recorded with a median age of 86 years (range 57-102 years)
✓ during the last weeks all sequenced strains belonged to the Omicron sub-variant BA.2

✓ at week 36 the most frequent BA.2 sub-variant was EG.5 (32%), followed by XBB.1.5
(31%) and XBB.1.16 (29%)
✓ a total of 5 positive samples of the BA.2.86 sub-variant have been recorded in Greece, 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 7
of the 9 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 recorded on
week 38/2023, no new death from laboratory confirmed influenza
✓ from week 40/2022 to week 38/2023, 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