EODY report: 6 deaths from coronavirus in the last week

A small increase in new cases of coronavirus was recorded in the week of April 15-21, while deaths from COVID-19, according to the weekly epidemiological report of the EODY, were 6. The number of flu cases is also at high levels for the season.

The EODY report in detail

Influenza-like illness – ILI (regardless of pathogen)

The number of influenza cases per 1,000 visits showed a decrease compared to the previous week.

Severe Acute Respiratory Infection – SARI (regardless of pathogen)

The number of SARI cases per 1,000 visits showed a slight increase compared to the previous week.

SARS-CoV2 virus – COVID-19 infection

The positivity in all tested samples showed a slight increase compared to the previous week.

The number of new imports was 81. The average weekly number of imports in the previous 4 weeks was 82 and the number of imports in the corresponding week in 2023 was 813.

The number of new intubations was 2. The average weekly number of new intubations over the previous 4 weeks was 1, and the number of intubations in the corresponding week of 2023 was 17.

The number of intubated patients with COVID-19 infection is 6.

There were 6 deaths with a median age of 88.5 years (range 81-93 years). The number of deaths is the same as the average weekly number of deaths in the previous 4 weeks (n=6) and was lower than the number of deaths in the corresponding week in 2023 (n=47).

The most common sub-variant of BA.2 remains JN.1 (>85% from week 6 onwards).

Viral load surveillance in municipal wastewater showed a drop in SARS-CoV-2 circulation in 4 of the 7 areas tested, an increase in 2, and a stabilization in 1.

Influenza virus

Influenza positivity in the community (sentinel network) is still above 10% (ECDC seasonal threshold for the onset of epidemic activity of influenza), with no significant change from the previous week, and remaining at seasonally high levels ( with prevalence of type B influenza).

One new serious case with hospitalization in ICU was recorded, while no new death from laboratory-confirmed influenza was recorded.

From week 40/2023 to week 16/2024, 141 people with laboratory-confirmed influenza were hospitalized in ICU and 68 deaths from laboratory-confirmed influenza were recorded.

From week 40/2023 to week 16/2024, 933 influenza strains have been typed (derived from community sentinel samples, from SARI surveillance samples and from hospital samples outside surveillance networks), of which 547 (59%) were type A and 386 (41%) type B. From week 10 onwards the predominant type is B in both the community (PHC Sentinel surveillance network) and hospitals (SARI surveillance network).

In total, according to EODY, 529 type A strains have been subtyped in the two Influenza Reference Centers. 487 (92%) belonged to subtype A(H1)pdm09 and 42 (8%) to subtype A(H3).