ATHENS – The COVID-19 pandemic is all but a bad memory for Greeks and residents but it’s not gone even as shopping malls, supermarkets and other gathering places are still breeding grounds for the virus, seeing more cases again.

The number of people admitted to hospitals with the Coronavirus doubled since the end of May with June ending and the country having recorded 6,101,379 cases and 37,869 deaths, and health restrictions ended in 2022.

The growth in cases serious enough to warrant hospitalization has reversed a trend from the year before when they were going down but now it’s rare to see anyone wearing a mask for protection or taking any precautions.

Gkikas Magiorkinis, an Epidemiology Professor and member of the national advisory board on the pandemic told Praktoreio radio that the numbers began rising at the end of the summer of 2023.

“Intubations are currently at low levels, however it is too early to draw safe conclusions, as they usually have long hospitalizations. Based on the data we have, there is a significant possibility that we are experiencing a phase of exponential growth, that is, we will see hospitalizations continue to increase, but we do not expect anything dramatic that will put pressure on the health system,” he said.

“There is a shift to the trend to appear earlier. It’s too early to say for sure, but we have a significant chance that increased circulation (of COVID-19) will start earlier this summer,” he added of developments.

He said there are strains of the virus more easily transmitted in outdoor areas, and that those most vulnerable should take precautions in crowded areas, test when they develop symptoms and promptly seek treatment with antiviral medication.

Those most at risk he said were those over 60, with booster shots coming in the autumn that he recommended they take to protect themselves as they are in the group considered most susceptible because of their age and multiple conditions.