KOZANI, Greece — A spike in coronavirus cases was noted in the Kozani area of western Macedonia region with 9 new infections since Saturday, infectious diseases specialist Iordanis Romiopoulos said on Sunday, ahead of the official release of 24-hour data later in the day.

Since June 24, western Macedonia confirmed cases total 36, of whom 25 are residents of Kastoria prefecture, 10 of Kozani and 1 is a Serb.

Romiopoulos, a regional coordinator for the National Public Health Organization (EODY), said that Sunday's 9 infections include 1 resident of Kastoria, 4 of Kozani, 3 of villages in the area and 1 of Serbian nationality. The latter was returning to his country but after a traffic accident ended up in the hospital, where he was diagnosed as being positive to the novel coronavirus. Contract tracing showed he was passing through and had not stayed anywhere in the region.

The infectious diseases specialist said all 9 had "mild to medium symptoms of respiratory infection". Three are hospitalized in Ptolemaida and the rest under quarantine and observation at home. Two of the 9 came from Serbia but the rest are not known to have travelled abroad or come into contact with another infected person. "These are what we call 'orphan' cases," Romiopoulos explained of non-traceable causes.

The latest data on official coronavirus cases in Greece were published on Saturday, which had registered 41 new cases since Friday; 11 of these related to visitors to Greece, by land or air. Greece's cases of infections since the start of the pandemic total 3,772 and the fatalities since January total 193.