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Strict observance of the measures and constant vigilance are the messages for the coronavirus heading into the fall.
Over the past two days, daily coronavirus cases in Greece appear low, with 202 on Friday and 187 on Saturday. Whether it is a real improvement in virus epidemiology or the result of fewer tests, it remains a fact that temporary fluctuations in cases should not cause complacency as long as they remain in the triple digit number.
In the first wave of the pandemic, Greece was one of the few countries that took too long to proceed with massive population tests, even those with symptoms, while the World Health Organization called for “test, test, test.” 
Now, although infectious disease specialists and government officials reiterate that the increase in the number of cases is, among other things, the result of most tests, reagents have been depleted at the National Blood Donation Center. (EKEA), the public body with the capacity to carry out about 1,000 tests a day. at the economic price of 13 euros per sample.
Among other things, despite what the Deputy Minister of Health, Vassilis Kontozamanis, recently stated that all samples are being properly controlled, there are still thousands of tests pending.
The microbiology laboratory of the EKPA Faculty of Medicine and the Pasteur Institute may have denied the information that they have “blocked”, but it is a fact that they have to process a significant number of samples.
Speaking to the “Editors’ Journal”, EKPA microbiology professor Athanasios Tsakris admitted that the EKPA laboratory “has assumed other obligations, such as the country’s airports.” We couldn’t lift the full weight of EKEA. ” 
The laboratory, he explains, analyzes 3-4,000 samples per day, having borne the greatest weight of the pandemic in the country, however the volume of tests with the return of health workers to their work, the control of closed structures ( nursing homes, refugee accommodation structures, etc. ok) it’s big.
At the same time, for its part, the state has made some efforts with EODY sampling controls in small epidemiologically responsible societies, airports and ports, as well as nursing homes and closed structures. However, nothing has been said about any other support for free trials in the population, as employees return to work and their companies force them, often on their own, to take preventive tests against the coronavirus.
Contract with a private diagnostic center that charges 50 per test
On the contrary, after the problem created with EKEA, the Ministry of Health and the 1st Health District (RA) of Attica rushed to order public hospitals and health centers to sign contracts with a private diagnostic center, causing a political uproar.
The issue was brought to light by the “META Sanitaria” trade union faction of the Panhellenic Federation of Public Hospital Employees (POEDIN).
In a document, the head of the 1st Health District (RA) of Attica asks the commanders of the health structures of the first region of the country to investigate the conclusion of contracts with a specific private diagnostic group. 
“After that, we all understood who benefits from the absence of molecular analysts in most of the country’s hospitals, but also from the shortage of reagents,” the party said in a statement.
The “Authors Magazine”, in fact, contacted the commander of the 1st RAE, Panagiotis Stathis, who stressed that it was not his decision but the Ministry of Health’s.
There was guidance from the Ministry of Health to channel the tests to the specific diagnostic group. The ministry carried out the negotiation ”, he reveals, however, assuming the responsibility that corresponds to him:
“I had two options: order from above or search the labs using prescribed procedures. I preferred to order, because samples have a specific shelf life and hundreds are currently stagnant for days in hospital refrigerators and Attica Health Centers ”.
In fact, Mr Stathis reveals that the private diagnostic center is paid 50 euros per test. At the same time, this is the cost of each test at Pasteur, while EKPA charges 35 euros and EKEA 13 euros.
The change in age in the cases and the increase in intubated
All of this comes at a time when Charalambos Gogos sounded the alarm to limit the spread of the virus in the fall, speaking of the worrying shift in the disease curve at the ages of 50 and 60.
“The August age curve shows that the cases were between the ages of 20 and 29, and slowly the curve shifts to older ages and reaches the average age of 39 and may go even higher. This is expected to happen. , because the spread begins in the young, and what we fear is the transfer to fifty and sixty, which are closer to the asymptomatic ages. “These ages are not far from the serious disease and this issue worries us and we must pay attention “Gogos said during the briefing on Friday.
The same said Gikas Majorkinis, speaking with SKAI, saying that “the effectiveness of the measures is not going very well in 50-60 and this should concern us.”
At the same time, on Saturday the number of intubated patients increased, which now stands at 40. Their average age is 70 years. 10 (25.0%) are women and the rest are men. 82.5% of intubated patients have an underlying disease or are 70 years or older. 157 patients have been discharged from the ICU.
As Mr. Majorkinis commented, this increase is normal and is due to the eruption that we had 7 days ago and a relative landing of the cases.
Fear of new epidemic waves in winter
Dimitris Paraskevi, Associate Professor of Epidemiology – Preventive Medicine at the EKPA School of Medicine, seemed anxious about a possible third, fourth or even fifth wave epidemic, if conditions permit.
Regarding Mr. Paraskevi’s statements, Gikas Majorkinis stressed that “what I think the colleague wants to describe is that we can see a regression. That is, instead of seeing the reduction and disappearance that we saw in May with the total blockade that only so we can see such a reduction, we should see a wavy shape that rises and falls depending on the effectiveness of the measures taken “.
For Attica, which reported few new cases on Saturday, the assistant professor of Hygiene and Epidemiology at the EKPA School of Medicine commented that there is concern about an outbreak of cases with the return from vacation.
“It is very easy to reproduce orphan cases that are not related to each other and it is generally difficult to implement measures, so with the return of tourists we can see a small increase in Attica,” he said.
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