Greeks sent 110 million texts to leave house during lockdown
Greeks sent a total of 110 million text messages to the number 13033 to leave the house during the 42 days of full lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, the Digital Governance Ministry announced on Monday.
The number, set up by the ministry’s General Secretariat for Telecommunications and Posts in cooperation with the country's telecommunications providers, started operating on March 23, when the stringent ban on circulation came into effect, and lasted until the morning of March 4, when it ended.
During the lockdown, only those going to or from their workplace, shopping for food or medicine, visiting a doctor or pharmacy, taking brief exercise or walking their pet were allowed to leave their homes.
Although citizens were also given the option to print a declaration on their reason for leaving their house, texting became the go-to choice for most Greeks, the ministry said.
On average, the number served 1,818 messages per minute, while during the highest traffic it processed 7,500 messages per minute.
The average daily success rate, meaning the percentage of messages that are written without any mistakes, reached 94.2 percent, and on many days it exceeded 99 percent.
The text service was planned out and put in operation in less than 48 hours, the ministry said.
