Hard lockdown on the table for worst-hit areas

A hard lockdown is on the table for regions that have been unable to control transmission of the novel coronavirus and are struggling with hospital admissions, government spokesman Stelios Petsas indicated on Wednesday.

“We have observed that cases are not dropping as much as we’d like them, are dropping very slowly or are even flaring up every so often in certain regional units. If cases remain high and the pressure on hospitals also continues, we will have no choice but to adopt even stricter measures for a certain period of time in these areas,” Petsas said in comments to Parapolitika radio.

Such measures could include a stricter curfew than the current one of 10 p.m. to 5 p.m., shutting down retail commerce and closing cafes and eateries still operating as takeaways, he explained.

Petsas also ruled out a further relaxing of measures in other parts of the country over the holiday period, saying that it “would send the wrong message regarding what lies ahead.”

“There is danger ahead. The danger is that we provide a trigger for a third wave” of the pandemic, he said.