ATHENS — Greece confirmed 3,209 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, of which 29 were identified at entry points to the country, the National Public Health Organization (EODY) said on Wednesday.

There are 82,034 registered cases in Greece since the start of the pandemic, of which 4,714 relate to travel abroad and 20,917 with already known cases.

A total of 480 patients are on ventilators. Their median age is 65, 81.0 percent have an underlying condition or are 70 years old; 148 are women. A total of 410 patients have been discharged from ICUs so far.

EODY also registered another 60 deaths, bringing fatalities to 1,288. Of the total, the median age of the deceased was 80 years and 97.4 pct had an underlying condition and/or were aged over 70 years. Of them, 523 were women.

The geographic distribution of Wednesday's figures showed the viral load in northern Greece, which has overturned the lead of Attica – Greece's most populous region. Thessaloniki region in particular has nearly doubled the rates of Athens' metropolitan area: Attica region registered 564 new cases on Wednesday, against 905 in Thessaloniki region, an area with much lower population numbers.

Other triple-digit regions in Greece included Larissa in central Greece (207), and Pella (166), Imathia (111), Kilkis (101). High infection rates were also recorded in other northern Greek areas: Drama (95), Kavala (76), Serres (72), Evros (64), Florina (59), Pieria (46), and Rodopi (33).

Besides Larissa, high infection rates in central Greece were registered in Magnisia and Volos area (79), Karditsa (77), and Trikala (26). Of the islands, the highest infection rate was registered on Wednesday on Lesvos (47).