Cultural hiatus, caps on gatherings, telework introduced to stem Covid in Greek capital

Roughly a quarter of Greece's coronavirus cases are concentrated in downtown Athens, Deputy Minister for Citizens’ Protection Nikos Hardalias said on Friday, announcing new measures aimed at reducing infection rates in Athens.

“Of the 14,400 cases reported since the start of the pandemic, 4,084 are active and of these, 2,100 are in Attica. Of those, moreover, 966 are located in Municipality of Athens,” Hardalias said.

Of Friday’s 339 new cases, meanwhile, 164 were reported as being in the Attica region.

Hardalias added, however, that the region is still considered to be below Code Red, in Code Orange territory, reporting a daily infection rate of three per 100,000 residents in recent days.

The new measures for Attica (not including the Saronic Islands and Kythira) go into effect on Monday and will be in place until October 4, when the situation will be reassessed.

These measures are: a suspension of all concerts and other cultural events and the closure of indoor cinemas; a cap of nine people for private and public gatherings; a cap of 20 people for wedding, baptisms and funerals; sending 40% of employees in the private and public sector home to work; and scaling arrival hours in the civil service to prevent congestion on mass transportation.

Authorities are also urging individuals aged over 65 years old to limit their outings and interactions with other people to the essential.

There are also plans to quarantine people belonging to vulnerable groups like the homeless and migrants who have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus but are asymptomatic. They will be put up in hotels rented for this purpose, Hardalias said.