Significant de-escalation in daily number of cases recorded in the last two weeks with respect to Covid pandemic in our country, according to the data presented by its president ΕΟΔΥTh. Zaoutis, in today’s press conference at the Ministry of Health.
The escalation in cases, he said, is combined with a significant reduction in the total number of simple hospitalizations, in the number of intubated patients, as well as in the number of deaths.
Due to all this, he added, as well as the high vaccination coverage, the absence of the new variant, and due to the climatic conditions of the summer season that do not favor the spread of the coronavirus, it has been decided partial de-escalation of measures.
Regarding the situation in schools, there is a significant de-escalation in children and adolescents aged 4-11 and 12-18 when two self-tests were still performed per week. The de-escalation in children was observed earlier than the total number of cases in the community, said Mr. Zaoutis, noting that the self-tests were gradually reduced to one per week and de-escalation continued at a systematic rate.
Speaking about the excessive mortality, which was mentioned earlier by the Minister of Health, Th. Plevris, stressed that it is a reliable indicator of the impact of the pandemic on the total number of deaths. Excess mortality (EM) is defined – as explained – the difference between the number of deaths from each cause in a period of time (eg pandemic) and the expected number of deaths in that period.
The number of deaths from COVID-19 is not an objective indicator for comparisons between different countries because, as he said, the way of recording deaths is not uniform and the number of deaths depends on the stage of the pandemic (number of cases per population) in each time period. Also, because the prognostic factors for COVID-19 deaths, such as age, comorbidities, vaccination coverage, and health system capabilities vary considerably by geographic area.
The exaggerated mortality for Greece in the period 2020-2021 were 127.1 deaths per 100,000 population. According to EODY data, the corresponding index for the whole of Western Europe was 140 deaths per 100,000 and for Central Europe it was 315.7 deaths per 100,000 population.
Indicatively, the same index was for Italy 227.4, Spain 186.7, Portugal 202.2, France 124.2, Germany 120.5 and the United Kingdom 126.8 deaths per 100,000 population.
The ratio of excessive mortality to the reported number of deaths from COVID-19 was estimated, as Mr. Zaoutis pointed out, and this index indirectly reflects whether deaths from COVID-19 are indicated (the higher the index the greater the chance of reporting).
For Greece the ratio was 1.22, for Western Europe it was 1.48 and for Central Europe it was 2.0.
Is there documentation for under-registration of deaths in the rest of Europe in relation to Greece or Greece declares increased rates of COVID-19 deaths in relation to other countries, concluded Mr. Zaoutis, presenting data for the same index in other countries: In Italy 1.89 , in Spain 1.64, in Portugal 2.13, in France 1.28, in Germany 1.82 and in the United Kingdom 0.97.
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