On the front of the fight against the coronavirus, the situation is once again becoming complicated in Greece. Health authorities announced on Tuesday 8,613 new cases of Covid-19 during the last 24 hours, a new record since the appearance in February 2020 of the pandemic in the country where hospitals are once again starting to be overwhelmed.
Above all, since the end of October, the number of contaminations has continued to increase, from 3,600 on October 29 to 6,150 a week later and to 7,330 on Monday, according to the daily report provided by the National Public Health Organization (Eody) . Over the period, dozens of people died daily due to the coronavirus, the Eody having recorded 46 deaths on Tuesday against 65 on Monday.
Vaccination to rule out confinement
“We are facing a fourth wave”, which “mainly concerns the unvaccinated,” said Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek Prime Minister, on Tuesday evening, after talks with his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte on an official visit to Athens. the country is also facing an upsurge in the pandemic. He further underlined that his government “placed emphasis on increasing the number of vaccinations” and “on taking measures without resorting to confinement”.
On Friday, the Edy had announced new measures to stem the pandemic, the health pass being now mandatory for restaurants and outdoor cafes. Until now, it was only mandatory for closed spaces. The mask is still compulsory for everyone indoors and outdoors in the assembly areas.
Measures not always respected
However, in several parts of Greece the measures are not being respected, especially in some Orthodox churches where images recently released by the media have shown worshipers kissing the icons without protective masks and not respecting social distancing. Father Timotheos, the spokesperson for the Holy Synod, the supreme organ of the all-powerful Greek Orthodox Church, declared on Mega television on Monday that “sacred icons do not transmit the virus or disease”.
“The pandemic is still there, the number of cases is increasing as in other countries of the European Union”, however warned Monday evening Marios Themistokleous, the secretary general of health. “61.2% of the general population in Greece has been vaccinated against an average of 65.6% in the EU,” he said. However, he welcomed a resumption of “200% of the number of appointments” for the first dose of the vaccine in recent days due, according to him, “to new measures and due to the explosion in the number of contamination ”.
