Greece banned the public festivals of Christmas Y New Year and forced to wear face masks in open spaces to help slow the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirushis health minister said Thursday.
The measures will come into force on Friday morning and will also oblige citizens to wear two face masks or one of high protection on public transport and in supermarkets. Foreign visitors are “strongly encouraged” to have two PCR tests a few days after your arrival.
The Minister of Health, Thanos Plevris, said additional measures are expected in the new year, especially at shows and sports events, to avoid another closure.
“We are constantly monitoring the cases to see if behind the delta variant there is a spread of Omicron,” he told a news conference. Greece has reported only a few dozen cases of Omicron since the beginning of the month.
A few days before the second Christmas of the pandemicMany countries have imposed new restrictions on their citizens, while worrying about the damage that the new variant could inflict on their economies.
Greece, which emerged from the first wave of the pandemic last year in relative better shape than other European countries, has been grappling with a surge in infections in recent months that have put its healthcare system to the test.
Authorities reported 5,641 new infections and 69 related deaths on Wednesday, bringing the total number of infections since the pandemic began to 1,049,936 and the number of deaths to 20,126.
With a population of 11 million people, Greece has so far administered more than 7.3 million first vaccines. About 65.7% of Greeks are fully vaccinated.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx