The virus has killed 673 people in Greece out of nearly 47,000 people infected.
Athens:
Greece will enter a lockdown from Saturday for three weeks to fight a second wave of coronavirus, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced.
“It was a difficult decision,” but “measures must be taken for three weeks to overcome this second wave,” he said on a video conference Thursday.
Under these measures, Greeks can only leave their homes if they make an official request by text or mobile phone and then receive an authorization.
Only “essential stores”, including supermarkets and pharmacies, can remain open when the lockdown begins at 6 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Saturday, Mitsotakis said.
Unlike the previous six-week lockdown which began in late March, he said kindergartens and primary schools would remain open.
High school students will receive distance education, something university students are already doing under recent measures.
The new lockdown comes as the daily tally of coronavirus cases continues to grow.
A total of 2,646 new infections and 18 deaths were recorded on Wednesday, up sharply from last week.
The virus has killed 673 people in Greece out of nearly 47,000 people infected.
But it is the number of people in intensive care that worries the authorities the most.
The number of people hospitalized on ventilators more than doubled in a month, from 82 on October 4 to 169 on Wednesday.
“Why take this decision now?” Said the Prime Minister. “In the last five days we have seen a dangerous increase in the death toll” and the number of people in intensive care in hospital.
(Except for the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)
