Viral infections of the respiratory system are on the rise, SARS-CoV-2, influenza viruses and respiratory syncytial virus – RSV, in the community. Specifically for covid-19, all indicators show an increase, according to the epidemiological report of EODY for the period 4-10 December.

SARS-CoV2 virus – COVID-19 infection: The positivity in all tested samples showed an increase compared to the previous week.

The number of admissions (n=1,176) showed a 38% increase over the average weekly admissions over the previous 4 weeks and was lower than the number of imports in the corresponding week of 2022.

The number of new intubations (n=26) showed an increase over the average weekly number of new intubations over the previous 4 weeks (n=21) and was lower than the number of intubations in the corresponding week in 2022. The number of patients with COVID-19 infection hospitalized while intubated is 59. There were 48 deaths with a median age of 82.5 years (range 58-99 years).

The number of deaths showed an increase compared to the average weekly number of deaths in the previous 4 weeks (n=44) and was lower than the number of deaths in the corresponding week in 2022.

The most common sub-variant of BA.2 was EG.5 (40%) followed by XBB.1.5 (29%).

Viral load surveillance in municipal wastewater showed an increase in SARS-CoV-2 virus circulation in 7 out of 10 areas tested.

Influenza virus: Influenza positivity in the community (sentinel network) remains above the 10% threshold which is an indicative seasonal threshold for the onset of epidemic influenza activity according to the ECDC.

4 new serious cases with hospitalization in ICU were registeredwhile no new death from laboratory-confirmed influenza was recorded. A severe case of laboratory-confirmed influenza with hospitalization in the ICU was retrospectively reported.

From the influenza surveillance authority 14 people with laboratory-confirmed influenza were hospitalized in the ICU and 4 deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza were recorded.

In the two influenza reference centers, 41 samples positive for influenza viruses have been recorded (sentinel samples and hospital samples), namely 39 (95%) were type A and one (2%) type B (for one positive sample the virus type was not available).

Of the 39 type A strains subtyped, 8 (20.5%) belonged to the A(H3) subtype and 31 (79.5%) to the A(H1)pdm09 subtype.

Influenza syndromes (regardless of the pathogen): number of influenza cases per 1,000 visits is at similar levels to last week.

Respiratory Syncytial Virus – RSV: Positivity has increased.