Gov’t spokeswoman rules out countrywide lockdown despite surge in Covid cases

Government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni ruled out the possibility of a countrywide lockdown despite a surge in Covid-19 infections, speaking on Skai radio on Wednesday.

“We hope to have reached a 70 percent level of immunity by the end of the summer,” Peloni said, adding that the sharp increase in cases, increasingly driven by the Delta variant, has so far not put an extra pressure on Greece’s healthcare services.

Speaking of the government’s decision to make Covid shots compulsory for health workers and staff at nursing homes, Peloni did not rule out expanding the measure to other professional groups. 

“Everything is being reviewed and assessed depending on the evolution of the pandemic and the inoculation program,” she said. 

Health officials confirmed 3,109 cases in the past 24 hours on Tuesday, which was the highest number since May 11.

They said four patients died of Covid-19 with the number of fatalities since the start of the pandemic reaching 12,806.

At the same time, there were 133 intubated patients in intensive care from 139 on Monday.