Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has officially announced a second nationwide lockdown for Greece.
Greece will be officially on lockdown starting on Saturday and for at least three weeks.
Mitsotakis said COVID-19 cases are rising exponentially and has asked people not to attack epidemiological experts, calling this a political decision.
He said he chose "to take drastic measures sooner rather than later" after aggressive increase in cases and emphasized that he cannot take the risk of allowing the health system to come under "unbearable" pressure.
The Prime Minister also ensured that Greece has strong economic buffer to deal with a second nationwide lockdown.
The lockdowns, which will begin at 6AM on Saturday morning, have some difference with the spring lockdown. Unlike in spring, primary schools and kindergartens will remain open.
Greece only yesterday has 2,646 new cases.
Yesterday, Greece experienced an unprecedented spike. Together with the continuing rise in Intensive Care Unit admissions, this is one of the main reasons leading to the new lockdown.
Although the Greek Prime Minister emphasized that this was his own personal decision, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias told ANT1 TV yesterday that health experts have recommended a one-month nationwide lockdown.
It is recalled last weekend, Mitsotakis announced mandatory nationwide measures in order to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Greece has 46,892 COVID-19 cases.
4,271 are considered to be related to travel from abroad and 14,427 are related to an already known case.
One hundred and seventy-nine individuals are in ICU. Their median age is 67 years, and 42 of them are women. 88.8% have an underlying condition or are aged 70 years and above.
A total of 305 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic in Greece.