PM convening meeting over spike in Covid-19 cases

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is due on Friday to convene an emergency online meeting with key government officials and health experts to discuss a recent spike in coronavirus cases, following Greece’s opening to tourists from abroad.

The meeting was called after cases began rising at the start of the week and mainly at the crossing on the Greek-Bulgarian border, peaking on Thursday with the confirmation of 50 new cases, 27 of which were imported.

There have also been small clusters of cases in remote parts of the country like the island of Thassos, where communities are particularly vulnerable, as well as additional concerns over a relaxed attitude to the virus evidenced in large crowds gathering at bars and village festivals over recent weeks.

The government has said that it will introduce new restrictions if this is deemed necessary to contain the spread of the virus through the local community.

Of Thursday’s 50 reported cases, 24 were spotted at the country’s borders or airports and three were travelers who were already in the country and presented themselves for testing, according to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency. Of the remaining cases, seven were in Attica and the rest were in northern Greece: six each in Thessaloniki and Xanthi, two in Kavala and one each in Halkidiki and Rodopi.