Tsipras reiterates call for early elections
Main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras has reiterated his call for early elections over the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking on STAR TV’s main news bulletin Tuesday evening, the ex-prime minister referred to a recent study, co-authored by infectious disease expert and government adviser Sotiris Tsiodras, which controversially showed that the mortality of severely ill Covid-19 patients in Greek hospitals is negatively affected by the high numbers of patients in hospital, as well as by regional disparities in the quality of care.
“Human lives cannot rely on a cynical government,” Tsipras said, adding that ruling officials “clearly had knowledge” of the findings in the report – an allegation that the government has denied.
The ex-prime minister accused the conservative administration of failing to ramp up the National Health System (ESY), adding that had such action been taken “we would have averted 38.5 percent of [Covid-related] deaths.”
The number of Covid-related deaths exceeded the 20,000-mark Tuesday, official data showed.
“Eight thousand families now feel that their loved ones would have been saved if ESY were in the right shape,” Tsipras said.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has rejected calls for a snap poll, saying that elections will take place at the end of his government’s four-year term.
