Athens, 8 January 2024 (MIA) — Following the winter holiday break, students across Greece returned to school Monday amid the country's latest SARS-CoV-2 surge with recommendations from the National Public Health Organization to reduce the spread of the virus, MIA's Athens correspondent reports.

Taking into account rapidly rising cases of COVID-19, flu and various respiratory infections in Greece, the country's health authorities on Friday released guidelines for students, teachers, and other staff on reducing the spread of pathogens.

They recommend schools improve classroom ventilation as one protective measure against airborne viruses such as SARS-CoV-2.

As protections from other communicable diseases, they have recommended washing hands, maintaining distance, and coughing or sneezing into an elbow or a tissue.

Students showing symptoms of a respiratory infection (sore throat, coughing, runny nose) or who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 or influenza should stay at home and limit contact with others, MIA's correspondent writes.

According to the National Public Health Organization's weekly report released on Thursday, from Dec. 25 to 31, there was a "significant increase in positivity in all tested samples compared to the previous week," when they had also logged an increased number of SARS-CoV-2 infections compared to the week before.

According to official figures, COVID-19-related hospitalizations went up 44% from the previous four weeks' average, with 1,818 people taken to hospital for severe infections. The number of patients in the ICU needing breathing support has also increased.

A week prior, 62 people had died from SARS-CoV-2, and this week, 57 people died from the virus in Greece. mr/