ATHENS — Greece registered a further steep rise in the spread of the pandemic on Thursday, with 2,917 new coronavirus cases, of which 27 were identified at entry points to the country.

New cases were 2,166 on Monday and had reached 2,646 on Wednesda. The recent acceleration of infections has prompted the government to announce a second, nationwide, lockdown from November 7 (Saturday) to November 30.

Greece now has 49,807 confirmed coronavirus cases, the National Public Health Organization (EODY) said, of which 4,303 relate to travel abroad and 14,879 to already known cases.

The number of intubated patients also rose to 187 on Thursday. Their median age is 66, 90.4 pct have an underlying condition or are aged 70 or more, and 43 are women.

Another 310 have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic.

Deaths also rose from 18 on Wednesday to 29 on Thursday, bringing the pandemic's death toll to 702. Of the latter, their median age was 79 years, 96.6 pct had an underlying condition and/or were aged 70 or more and 275 of them were women.