Lockdown ‘strongest weapon’ against virus surge in Athens, says expert

Restricting public circulation by imposing temporary, localized lockdowns is the “strongest weapon we have” to successfully contain the surge of new coronavirus infections in the Greek capital, and especially in the city center, infectious disease expert Nikos Sipsas said on Tuesday.

“We are just one step before a lockdown,” Sipsas, who is a member of the expert committee advising the government on its response to the pandemic, told Skai television.

Athens, he warned a day after Attica accounted for 174 of the country’s record 453 new coronavirus cases, is already labeled code orange and the “situation could deteriorate at any moment.”

“We need to act preemptively and preventatively,” Sipsas said, warning that if measures that went into effect on Monday do not show signs of paying off soon, localized lockdowns will inevitably follow.

“The lockdowns will be periodical, imposed for two weeks until the epidemic curve starts to flatten and then for another two weeks if necessary,” Sipsas said.