New coronavirus measures will be in effect in Greece starting at 6 AM Thursday, the Greek Minister of Health, Thanos Plevris, announced on Wednesday.
Beginning on Thursday, restaurants, bars, and cafes will close at midnight, and all music will be banned. All patrons must be seated, not standing, and there will be a limit of six people to a table.
The only exception to the measures will be on New Year’s Eve, when restaurants, bars, and cafes will be permitted to stay open until 2:00 AM, but all other measures will still be in effect.
Restaurants, bars open until 2:00 AM on New Year’s Eve, no music
Additionally, Greeks will be required to wear either an N95 (or equivalent) mask, or two masks, in supermarkets and on public transportation. Those who work in the food service industry must also follow these rules regarding masks while at work.
The number of spectators at sports fields and stadiums will be reduced to 10% of the venue’s capacity, with a cap of 1,000 people.
According to the new measures, a total of 50% of workers in both the private and public sectors will work from home.
In order to protect residents, all visitors to senior-care homes and facilities for those with long-term illnesses will have to show a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of their visit, regardless of their vaccination status.
Although not required, Plevris also advised all Greeks to get tested for the virus before celebrating on New Year’s Eve.
The measures were first announced on Monday, and Plevris stated that they would go into effect after the New Year, on January 3.
Record 21,657 coronavirus cases recorded in Greece Tuesday
But the plans changed after the country experienced a dramatic spike in cases on Tuesday, when 21,657 instances of the coronavirus were recorded in Greece.
Greece recorded that staggering total of coronavirus cases on Tuesday, which represented 12,373 more than the 9,284 recorded on Monday.
This is the highest number of cases ever recorded in the country in a 24-hour period since the start of the pandemic.
The previous record for the highest number of coronavirus cases recorded in one day in Greece was broken on Monday, when 9,284 cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed.
Just 14 of Tuesday’s cases were identified during routine Covid-19 testing of tourists at the country’s borders.
Currently, there are 635 patients with the coronavirus on ventilators in Greece, six more than the 629 in the country on Monday.
A total of 60 people with Covid-19 passed away in Greece on Tuesday alone, compared to the 66 people who died with the virus in the country on Monday.
This brings the total number of coronavirus-related fatalities in the country to 20,557 since the beginning of the pandemic.
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