After 20 residents of a nursing home near Thessaloniki were found infected with COVID-19, 12 more and a worker in another facility in Greece's second-largest city tested positive, with fears the Coronavirus could be spiraling out of control.

The state-run broadcaster ERT3 reported the new outbreak in the  Estia Papageorgiou nursing home in the Evosmos neighborhood, the facility operated by the Metropolis of Neapoli and Stavroupoli. 

Nine patients were taken to Papageorgiou General Hospital, while three were taken to the Ippokrateio Hospital, the report said but their conditions weren't given. The elderly and people with underlying or multiple medical complications are among the most vulnerable sectors.

Earlier in August, a prosecutor ordered an investigation into a retirement home in Asvestochori, a small town on the outskirts of Thessaloniki, where 33 residents and three staff members tested positive for Covid-19.

Authorities said 20 people were taken to a hospital with mild symptoms. The disease is believed to have been spread by a staff member who caught it from a relative who had visited a popular holiday resort.