On the 1st of July, 2020, Greece will fully open all its airports to flights from abroad, Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis announced.
“Our plan is comprehensive, and we have already carried out emergency drills,” the minister said. He added that random sampling will take place at airports for the novel coronavirus, and visitors will be obliged to wait for test results at a designated hotel- a 7 day stay at a hotel for negative results and a 14 day one for positive ones. Both mobile and floating units at airports and islands, respectively, will be collecting test samples.
Islands will be able to process results faster, thanks to local analyst machines to be placed on islands.
At the press conference, Theoharis was joined by Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias and government spokesman Stelios Petsas.
The announcements include the following:
On his part, Kikilias said that “446 simple beds and 19 intensive care units beds for COVID-19 have been reserved on islands,” expandable to 674 and 79, respectively, if need be. “All health centres and facilities on the islands are prepared and will be in operation 24hrs daily,” the minister said, while more doctors were appointed on islands and trained by emergency drills.
NGOs will also work on a voluntary basis with island staff and floating units. “We also have 11 negative-pressure capsules for air transport, and we will acquire more,” Kikilias added, referring to the containment units for the transport of infected people to mainland hospitals, whenever there is such a need. He also hinted that all available ships in service would be called to help out if need be in any patient transfers.
The plan presented by the Health minister and ministries’ contributions to ensuring a safe summer is had by all during the pandemic “reminds us all of the need to continue exhibiting individual responsibility and collective maturity,” the government spokesman said. “Our first priority is safety for residents and visitors alike,” he underlined.
Greece’s borders will be “open” from June 15th, with flights permitted to land in Athens and Thessaloniki. The countries are: Albania, Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, and Finland.
This post was last modified on June 13, 2020 10:52 am