Athens, Jan 8 || Greece has confirmed its first case of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) in a 71-year-old man, the national news agency AMNA reported on Wednesday.
The patient, who had pneumonia and underlying health conditions, is in intensive care in Thessaloniki, a northern port city. The National Public Health Organisation has advised medical staff to follow Covid-19 protocols and maintain strict hygiene measures.
Gkikas Magiorkinis, associate professor of epidemiology at the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, reassured the public, saying there is no need to panic as HMPV is a known virus that has circulated for decades and is not considered highly dangerous, news agency reported.
On Tuesday, the Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin had announced that the country has detected infections of the respiratory virus HMPV, but assured the public that the disease is not dangerous.
"Our report shows that several children have been infected. We are closely monitoring the situation. However, this is not a new disease; it has been present in Indonesia since 2001, and we have not observed any serious impacts caused by this virus," Sadikin stated in a written announcement published on the ministry's official website.