Greek Health Minister: Additional Covid-19 Measures After Holidays

Thanasis Plevris, Greek Minister of Health, announced on Wednesday that Greece would likely impose Covid-19 measures after the holidays to halt the spread of the omicron variant.

“It is a clear position of the government that after the holidays there will be a set of anti-virus measures,” Plevris announced Wednesday in a speech before the Greek Parliament.

He also noted that the government’s special committee of coronavirus experts was meeting at that very moment to decide on the measures.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the committee has met to agree upon sets of measures which are then presented to the Prime Minister and the government, who then decide which measures to put in place.

Plevris stressed that officials are now “monitoring the situation closely,” and will determine the measures that will be applied depending on the epidemiological situation in the country after the holidays.

The Health Minister also stated that checks for adherence to the current coronavirus measures would be conducted throughout the holiday period.

“No one should think that checks won’t be conducted as to whether only vaccinated people are inside,” he stated, referring to the current rules that allow entrance into enclosed spaces, such as non-essential shops, restaurants, and bars, only to those who have been vaccinated.

Speaking of Greece’s vaccination rate, Plevris announced that 66% of Greeks have now been fully vaccinated, but the rate jumps to 70% when all upcoming appointments for the vaccine are included in that figure.

5,641 cases of Covid-19 in Greece, 69 deaths, 665 intubations

Greece recorded a total of 5,641 cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday, 783 fewer than the 6,424 recorded on Tuesday.

The record for the highest number of coronavirus cases recorded in one day in Greece was broken more than a month ago, on November 9, when 8,623 cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed.

In the past day, a total of 555,381 coronavirus tests have been administered, including both PCR and rapid tests, bringing the positivity rate in Greece to 1.15%.

Just eight of Wednesday’s cases were identified during routine Covid-19 testing of tourists at the country’s borders.

Currently, there are 665 patients with the coronavirus on ventilators in Greece, four more than the 661 in the country on Tuesday.

A total of 69 people with Covid-19 passed away in Greece on Wednesday alone, compared to the 77 people who died with the virus in the country on Tuesday.

This brings the total number of coronavirus-related fatalities in the country to 20,126 since the beginning of the pandemic.

2,307 Coronavirus cases in Attica, 776 in Thessaloniki

Of the 5,641 new coronavirus cases recorded in Greece in the past 24 hours, 2,307 were located in Attica, home to the Greek capital city of Athens.

A total of 744 cases of Covid-19 were identified in central Athens on Wednesday.

In Thessaloniki, the second-largest city in Greece, 776 cases of the virus were identified today.

Over one million Covid-19 cases recorded in Greece

Since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 1,049,936 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the country, including all those who have recovered from the virus.

Of the 665 patients intubated currently, 78.9% are over the age of 70 or suffer from preexisting conditions. Their average age is 63.

The majority of those who are on ventilators in Greece, or 83.16%, are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated against the coronavirus.

Additionally, a total of 3,691 patients have been discharged from ICUs around the country since the beginning of the pandemic.

City of Athens cancels Christmas Eve celebration

The city of Athens announced Wednesday that it would cancel its planned Christmas Eve celebration due to Covid-19.

The event was set to take place in Plateia Kotzia, a square in the center of the Greek capital.

An official statement from the city noted: “With a feeling of responsibility, the city of Athens has decided to cancel the ‘Christmas Eve-Night of Wishes event, due to an increase in Covid-19 cases, with the hope that we remain safe during the holidays and the wish that next year we will all be together.”