Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Tuesday evening in his televised address announced the introduction of a "hard lockdown " in the Attica region, where the capital city of Athens is also located, to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This mode will operate from 11 to 28 February.
According to him, under the conditions of these severe restrictions, all primary and secondary schools will be closed again and transferred to a distance mode. All retail outlets will also be closed except for supermarkets, pharmacies, pastry shops and gas stations.
The Prime Minister indicated that the government is introducing strict quarantines in the Attica area for two reasons. Firstly, due to the increase in the number of hospitalizations in the metropolitan area. Secondly, due to the presence of COVID-19 mutations that accelerate its spread.
The Attica region is the most densely populated region of Greece, with approximately 50% of the population.
Recall that from November 7, 2020, a nationwide lockdown was introduced in Greece, but restrictions were eased at Christmas and New Years. Then schools and retail outlets opened. Since the end of January, the country has seen a worsening of the epidemic situation. The authorities decided to tighten quarantine measures in some regions to contain the spread of COVID-19.
According to data released by the health service on Tuesday, 1526 new cases of COVID-19 infection and 20 deaths from infection were recorded in Greece over the past day. At this time, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of the disease has risen to 166067, with a total of 6017 people affected by the epidemic.
