ATHENS – Masks and social distancing are a thing of the past in Greece but health officials are still urging caution over the COVID-19 pandemic that has waned but is still around and putting people in hospitals, intensive care units and the ground.

There were 817 cases reported in the most recent week, the National Public Health Organization said, although health restrictions long since lifted in 2022 aren’t being called for again despite the Coronavirus hanging around.

“After four years of a pandemic, people want to have a good time; they go to dances and festivals, the last thing they think about is the mask,” said Matina Pagoni, President of the Association of Athens and Piraeus Hospital Doctors.

Gikas Magiorkinis, Associate Professor in the Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the University of Athens’ School of Medicine said the virus may be on its last legs though and that, “We have reached the peak and the de-escalation will now begin.”

He added that, “We expect the next surge, regardless of the variations, in late October to early November, when we will start indoor activities due to the weather. We may have forgotten the Coronavirus, but it hasn’t forgotten us.”