The Hellenic Police (ELAS) have intensified checks to make sure citizens and businesses are complying with regulations put in place to help curb the spread of Covid-19.
On Friday, officers carried out 59,882 inspections, recording 560 instances of individuals not wearing face masks or not observing physical distancing in public places.
Another 27 violations were recorded by businesses that failed to ensure health protocols were being observed on their premises or defied a midnight curfew. In six cases – three on Crete, two in Central Macedonia and one in Attica – officers imposed €10,000 fines on businesses for operating beyond the midnight curfew.
Since the beginning of August a total of 7,414 violations have been recorded nationwide for various offences ranging from failure to wear a face mask in public places to operating businesses beyond designated curfews.
New measures have also been imposed, according to a joint ministerial decision published in the Government Gazette on Saturday.
Public and social gathering limits have decreased to a maximum of 50 people, regardless if it is indoor or outdoor in the following regions and municipalities:
- Attica
- Crete
- East Macedonia and Thrace
- Thessaloniki
- Halkidiki
- Larissa
- Corfu
- Karditsa
- Pella
- Pieria
- Mykonos
- Paros
- Santorini
- Volos
- Katerini
- Rhodes
- Antiparos
- Zakynthos
- Kos
In these regions and municipalities, food or catering sector-related shops (restaurants, bars, bouzoukia etc.) will close from midnight to 7am.
Greece recorded 264 new cases of COVID-19 in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
This raises the total number of cases to 8,381.
1,832 are considered to be related to travel from abroad and 3,842 are related to an already known case.
Thirty-one individuals are in ICU.
The country’s pandemic death toll stands at 240. The median age of all was 77 years and 94.6% of the deceased had an underlying condition.
Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias in an interview with Ta Nea Newspaper on Saturday stressed the need for the strict observance of the covid-19 measures.
He also reiterated the agreement with the European Union for receiving the necessary number of vaccines to be provided for free to all the Greek citizens.
"It is not just the deal with Astra Zeneca. We must underline that the European Commission has been moving decisively all this time to ensure that the citizens of the EU member states have the required number of vaccines against Covid-19. The exploratory discussions with the pharmaceutical Cure Vac for 225 million doses have just been concluded, while similar discussions have taken place with other companies, such as Johnson & Johnson," the Health Minister said.
Referring to the Covid-19 vaccine being developed by the University of Oxford, he noted that "the company that produces this vaccine, AstraZeneca, announced that the agreement with the European Commission for the supply of up to 400 million doses has been concluded, with the first doses being delivered at the end of 2020," adding that as announced by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the vaccine will be available for free to all the Greek citizens.
