Greece’s Deputy Minister of Civil Protection and Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias provided updated figures on Tuesday regarding Covid-19 testing during the first nineteen days since Greece has reopened its borders to tourists.
Minister Hardalias reported today that a total of 918,032 international travelers had arrived in Greece from July 1 to July 19. Air passengers coming into the country totaled 620,652, with 248,660 travelers coming over its land borders and 48,720 entering Greece from its many ports.
With the tourism industry playing an integral role in Greece’s economic recovery, the country had initially opened its border to select countries starting on July 1.
During the last weeks, Greek health officials administered a total of 127,900 Covid-19 tests, with 98,284 conducted at airports, 23,497 at land borders and 6,119 at ports. A total of 295 positive Covid-19 cases were discovered as a result, with 53 patients still reported to be showing symptoms.
The Deputy Minister of Civil Protection also reported that fully 76 percent of the imported cases were from Balkan countries, with Serbia ranking first among all the positive cases of Covid-19 detected.
Despite Greece recently reporting over 4,000 total cases of Covid-19, Minister Hardalias ruled out the possibility of a second lockdown, as well as the reestablishment of local lockdowns.
Hardalias also urged the Greek public and travelers to continue to follow health and safety measures, stressing once again that the “Targeted measures are doing the job.” Health officials have also repeatedly credited the low numbers of Covid-19 in Greece with the country enacting a lockdown very early on in the pandemic.
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