Health Minister says Covid infection spike ‘fully under control’

Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris on Wednesday rejected concerns that the government rushed to suspend Covid-related restrictions in time for the tourist season, arguing that the recent jump in new infections was “fully under control.”

Asked on state-run broadcaster ERT on Tuesday’s 12,537 new cases of coronavirus, Plevris attributed it to the large number of tests, the increased number of tourists and the fact that there is greater mobility of the virus.

“The recommendation is when we are in places with intense crowding, we must wear a mask and take protection measures,” he said. “We are monitoring the course of each wave. Whenever there was a wave during the summer months, it was essentially milder, it did not bring serious hospitalizations.”

He said the national healthcare system is not under pressure and it is not expected that there will be an increase in hospitalizations during the summer months.