Greece on Monday extended its lockdown measures in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus disease through January 7, including a nighttime curfew and a ban on traveling outside one’s home prefecture.
Schools, restaurants, bars, courts of law and ski resorts will remain closed until that date, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said during a press conference.
He said the government will announce measures regarding churches, hair salons and retail stores later in the week.
Petsas stressed that the improvement in the epidemiological data and is slower than expected “because of the fatigue we all feel after 10 months of fighting against an invisible and insidious enemy, the coronavirus.”
It was indicative, he noted, that mobility during the second lockdown was increased by about 20 pct compared with the first, even though the restrictions after the closing of schools were essentially the same.
He added that “according to the latest data, there is a relative stabilization or even a slight decrease in the rolling average number of cases. Also, the number of occupied ICU beds is decreasing and the number of empty non-ICU Covid-19 beds has increased.”
Earlier, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a cabinet meeting that the vaccination program against the coronavirus “will begin, barring any unforeseen developments, at the beginning of January.”
Mitsotakis underlined the continued need for caution, “despite the fact that we are seeing some encouraging signs of a decline of cases.”
“We must be extremely careful to avoid a resurgence of the epidemic and to give our hospitals respite until the well-organized vaccination of the entire population, which will start — barring any unforeseen developments — at the beginning of January,” he said.
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