Deaths from Covid-19 are on the riseaccording to the epidemiological report of EODY for the period January 8-14, while all other indicators show a decrease. The most frequent subvariant is the JN.1 (44%).

According to EODY flu positivity remains high and recorded 8 new serious cases with hospitalization in ICU and 4 new deaths.

SARS-CoV2 virus – COVID-19 infection

The positivity in all tested samples showed a significant decrease compared to the previous week.

The number of imports (n=1,162) showed a decrease of 27% compared to the average weekly number of imports in the previous 4 weeks (n=1,592) and was lower than the number of admissions in the corresponding week of 2023 (n=1,748). The number of new intubations (n=28) showed a decrease compared to the average weekly number of new intubations over the previous 4 weeks (n=30) and was lower than the number of intubations in the corresponding week of 2023 (n=69). The number of intubated patients with COVID-19 infection is 68.

There were 103 deaths with a median age of 84 years (range 52-99 years). The number of deaths showed an increase compared to the average weekly number of deaths in the previous 4 weeks (n=90) and was lower than the number of deaths in the corresponding week in 2023 (n=206)

The most common sub-variant of BA.2 was JN.1 (44%) followed by EG.5 (31%). Viral load surveillance in municipal wastewater showed a reduction in SARS-CoV-2 virus circulation in 9 out of 10 areas tested.

Influenza virus

Influenza positivity in the community (sentinel network) remains above 10% (seasonal threshold for the onset of epidemic influenza activity according to ECDC) and showed a decrease compared to the previous week.

8 new serious cases with hospitalization in ICU were recordedwhile 4 new deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza were recorded.

A total of 64 people with laboratory-confirmed influenza were hospitalized in the ICU since the start of influenza surveillance, and 17 deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza were recorded. 215 influenza strains were subtyped from hospital and community sentinel samples, of which 212 (99%) were type A and 3 (1%) were type B. In total, 194 type A strains were subtyped at the two Influenza Reference Centers .16 (8%) belonged to the A(H3) subtype and 178 (92%) to the A(H1)pdm09 subtype.

Influenza syndromes (regardless of pathogen)

The number of influenza cases per 1,000 visits showed a significant decrease compared to the previous week

Respiratory syncytial virus – RSV

RSV positivity in Sentinel PHY samples remained at the same levels compared to the previous week.