Mitsotakis reiterates there will be no new lockdown

Greece will not return to a lockdown because it would be unfair to the three-quarters of the population who have “done the right thing” in getting vaccinated, the prime minister said on Wednesday.

“I do not think the pandemic is over. We are facing a fourth wave which primarily concerns the unvaccinated,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis told private broadcaster Mega TV.

Comparing the situation to a year ago, he underlined that 73% of adults and 63% of the population have been vaccinated and that lockdowns were the answer before the vaccination roll-out.

“Now that we have the vaccine, we are not going to go into lockdown. I’m adamant for the simple reason that at the moment three in four have done the right thing and it would be unfair to impose restrictions at a huge cost to tackle a minority problem today,” he said.

He rejected criticisms from main opposition SYRIZA that churches have been exempted from new measures, which come into force Saturday, that require unvaccinated people to present negative Covid test results to enter a variety of businesses and services.

Mitsotakis said there was often no one at the entrances to churches, so controls would be difficult. He said if there was a way of implementing controls in churches, he would be willing to discuss it. 

He also said he had no plans to make vaccinations mandatory for the police or army. [AMNA]