Greek civil protection authorities have imposed a seven-day-long complete lockdown on the town of Echinos in northeastern Greece after a spike in coronavirus cases and deaths over the past week.
Residents of the town in the province of Xanthi are forbidden from leaving the area, and are under a strict 24-hour curfew. They can leave their homes only to buy food or medication, and must wear a mask when doing so.
Only vehicles resupplying grocery stores and pharmacies are allowed into Echinos, while all other retail businesses have been closed once again, as in the worst days of the coronavirus pandemic.
The community has been the source of a localized outbreak before as well. Authorities said the area had registered 73 new coronavirus cases and five deaths over the past week.
Health authorities, who are intensifying testing in the area, attribute the surge of Covid-19 cases in the area to the neglect of safety measures as well as overcrowding in the small, enclosed communities of the majority Muslim population.
Extended families often gather together and perform their religious rituals at home, and as a result the virus spreads quickly among them, and in the community in general.
On Wednesday, the country announced 55 new cases, the highest daily number for weeks; the vast majority of these occurred in Xanthi.
Greece has had a total of 187 deaths of people who suffered from the coronavirus ,and just over 3,200 confirmed cases, in the country of nearly 11 million people.
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