Health minister calls on the public to observe restrictions during New Year's holidays
International data shows that coronavirus cases tend to rise after holidays, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Wednesday, adding that "how we have behaved on New Year's will show up two weeks later."
At a briefing, Kikilias appealed "from the heart to think of our dear ones and of health workers" and to observe health measures and restrictions.
He noted that the highest ratio of new cases per 100,000 people were registered in the following areas last week: Kalymnos island, Kozani, Kilkis, West Attica, Evros, Thassos island, Rodopi, Florina, Lesvos island and Xanthi (most of the mainland cities are in northern Greece).
Quoting his German counterpart Jens Spahn as saying that return to normalcy is still far off, Kikilias stressed, "We will have to live under difficult conditions in the next 2 to 3 months," adding that "even in Germany, where there are multiples of ICUs compared to the average European country, they are running out of Covid-19 dedicated beds."
The opportunity to be vaccinated in Greece should not serve as an excuse to relax caution and not observing the measures, he warned. "The vaccines are here, and it is the beginning of the end for this massive crisis. But what still remains is that a large segment of the population gets inoculated in the coming months," the health minister noted.
