*Image Credit: Eurokinissi
Greece's Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias on Wednesday said that there are 11 areas in Greece close to “red alert” status due to the rising rate of coronavirus infections and the government is considering tighter local lockdowns.
The 11 areas close "to red alert" status:
- Kozani
- Grevena (in Western Macedonia region)
- Kilkis
- Pella
- Pieria
- Thessaloniki (Central Macedonia)
- Drama
- Xanthi
- Rodopi (Eastern Macedonia/Thrace)
- Larissa (Thessaly)
“If the situation further deteriorates, we will reevaluate the measures,” Kikilias said.
On this note, a hard lockdown is on the table for these regions, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said.
“We have observed that cases are not dropping as much as we’d like them, are dropping very slowly or are even flaring up every so often in certain regional units. If cases remain high and the pressure on hospitals also continues, we will have no choice but to adopt even stricter measures for a certain period of time in these areas,” Petsas told Parapolitika radio.
Such measures could include a stricter curfew than the current one of 10 p.m. to 5 p.m., shutting down retail commerce and closing cafes and eateries still operating as takeaways.
Petsas also ruled out a further relaxing of measures in other parts of the country over the holiday period, saying that it “would send the wrong message regarding what lies ahead.”
“There is danger ahead. The danger is that we provide a trigger for a third wave” of the pandemic, he said.
Latest covid-19 numbers in Greece
Greece recorded 1,190 new cases of COVID-19 in the latest 24-hour reporting period.
This raises the total number of cases to 127,557.
5,163 are considered to be related to travel from abroad and 36,669 are related to an already known case.
Five hundred and fifty-two individuals are in ICU. Their median age is 67 years, and 162 of them are women. 77.9% have an underlying condition or are aged 70 years and above.
A total of 768 patients have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic in Greece.
The country’s pandemic death toll stands at 3,870. The median age of all was 79 years and 95.6% of the deceased had an underlying condition and/or age of 70 years or more.
