Is flu going around in Greece?

Greek flu activity usually starts rising in late November or December, peaks between December and February, and eases by March. Southern European winters tend to produce slightly earlier peaks than Central or Northern Europe. EODY, the National Public Health Organization (Εθνικός Οργανισμός Δημόσιας Υγείας), publishes weekly influenza updates through its sentinel GP network. The precise window shifts year to year with the dominant subtypes and residual immunity.

EODY describes influenza activity in qualitative phases (baseline, pre-epidemic, epidemic, and post-epidemic) based on sentinel consultations, laboratory positivity, and hospital indicators. These classifications appear in the weekly respiratory-virus bulletin and are also reported to ECDC for the European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary (ERVISS). The qualitative framing helps clinicians and the public interpret whether pressure on health services is ordinary, elevated, or exceptional.

Greece's influenza surveillance combines a sentinel network of primary-care physicians reporting influenza-like illness, virological confirmation at EODY's national reference laboratories, and hospital notifications of severe cases. Weekly bulletins integrate these indicators and feed ECDC ERVISS, which places Greece's trajectory alongside Italy, Cyprus, and the rest of the EU/EEA.

Greece offers free seasonal influenza vaccination to priority groups defined by EODY and the Ministry of Health, including adults aged 60 and above, pregnant women, people with chronic illnesses, residents of long-term-care facilities, and healthcare workers. Vaccines are delivered through pharmacies and family doctors under a prescription-based programme. EODY reports vaccine-uptake estimates alongside the weekly surveillance bulletin.

Because Greece reports into ECDC ERVISS with harmonised indicators, its weekly flu classification is directly comparable with Italy, Spain, Portugal, Cyprus, and the rest of the EU/EEA. Southern European countries often see peak windows between December and February, slightly earlier than Central or Northern Europe. Lead–lag patterns are visible in ECDC's side-by-side dashboards.