ATHENS – Even as Greece is relaxing an already lenient lockdown and will let restaurants reopen for outdoor dining on May 3 – Easter restrictions in place – the number of COVID-19 patients in public hospital Intensive Care Units (ICU's) remains high.

There were 817 people on ventilators as of April 29 when there were another 2,435 cases in the lead up to Easter when the government hopes people will obey social distance rules at church services.

Most of the new cases, 1,151, were in the prefecture of Attica which includes Athens and then in the country's second-largest city and major northern port Thessaloniki, which had 347, both cities showing fewer than a day earlier.

The National Organization for Public Health (EODY) said 73 patients died, bringing the death toll from the outbreak of the pandemic to 10,315 said Kathimerini in a report.

There were also 71,099 tests over a 24-hour period and only 3.42 percent were positive as the government hopes an accelerating vaccination program will slow the pandemic as tourists are set to arrive on May 15.

People who are bedridden will be vaccinated against COVID-19 in their homes with the Johnson & Johnson single shot version beginning May 18, which requires only a single shot and not two like others now being offered, State Minister George Gerapetritis.