Greece’s Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Wednesday announced that the government will decide by the end of April how it will proceed with lifting the lockdown.
The Minister made the announcement during an interview with Open TV clarifying that it all depends on how the disease develops.
“The most important criterion is the protection of vulnerable groups and the elderly, who are mainly at risk. And of course everything, as you understand, is evaluated and re-evaluated depending on the feedback we have and how people react.” Kikilias also made an appeal to everyone to respect the instructions for social distancing.
Kikilias also referred to the model with which the population will be tested, stressing: “We are looking to find a model of testing, ie the way in which specific parts of the population will be tested, the way in which we will lift some quarantines and some measures so that we can control, re-evaluate and avoid any damage.”
He said that this will be done according to the instructions of the scientists, which – as he said – the government will continue to follow up to the end and added: “The hierarchy of tests has to do first of all with our health: doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, then with the vulnerable groups and the elderly and with our fellow citizens who we want to bring back to the production process.”
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Greece has risen to 2,192, according to the latest update from Health Ministry spokesperson and infectious diseases expert Professor Sotiris Tsiodras.
The death toll has also risen to 103, in the last 24 hours.
Some 72 patients are being treated in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). The average age of these patients is 68 years.
It must be noted, Tsiodras added, that 29 patients have been discharged from ICUs in the last 24 hours.
A total of 50,771 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in Greece.
