News in brief
Another person has died in Greece, due to the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 51. The latest victim was a 51 year old man from the town of Kastoria, northern Greece.
The total number of those infected in our country reaches 1,415, while 90 are in ICUs.
Another community in northern Greece was placed under lockdown as of last night (April 1), Civil Protection Deputy Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias said during his daily briefing on the coronavirus with professor Sotiris Tsiodras.
The community of Foustani, part of the region of Exaplatanos of Edessa and NW of Thessaloniki, will be isolating as of 20.00 on Wednesday and for the next 14 days.
Among other comments in general, Hardalias criticized «a tiny minority that persists in endangering the general population» and praised «the overwhelming majority who are staying home.»
The refugee shelter in Ritsona will be placed in isolation, as 20 people were found positive in Covid-19, including a woman who gave birth to a child in Athens.
The Greek Police (ELAS) recorded a record number of violations of the public lockdown.The majority of violations were recorded in Attica and Thessaloniki. The governmet considers imposing stricter measures in the coming days, such as a time limit of two hours for each visit outside and a maximum of two visits per day.
In an interview with CNN on Wednesday night, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said that the measures his government has taken to curb the spread of the coronavirus appear to be working and thanked the Greek people for their cooperation, conceding however that “the hard work is still ahead of us.”
He described the trend of coronavirus cases in Greece as “relatively encouraging” compared to other European countries, attributing it to the strict social distancing measures that his administration enforced relatively early. He also thanked Greeks for mostly respecting the lockdown and staying home, noting that only a minority have flouted the restrictions.
The coronavirus crisis has been an opportunity, however, for the government to embrace digital technologies, he said, noting that his administration has made strides in this area in response to the pandemic.
As for the resilience of the Greek state’s infrastructure, he was upbeat. “Our healthcare system is coping relatively well,” he said, noting that this was despite the fact that, “it was battered after 10 years of austerity so we were painfully aware of the fact that we were at bigger risk compared to other EU countries.”
Known global cases pass 935,000. According to data collected by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, 937,567 people around the world have become infected, 47,256 of whom have died. They also count 194,311 people who have recovered.
New York City death toll passes 1,000. Deaths from the coronavirus reached 1,096 in New York City as an emergency field hospital opened in Central Park. Data released by the city’s health department showed the virus was having a disproportionate effect in certain neighbourhoods, mainly Brooklyn and Queens.
Spain passes 100,000 confirmed cases. Spain has crossed the threshold of 100,000 confirmed cases, health officials have said. According to official figures, it has had more cases than any country except Italy and the US.
The Church of Greece will hold liturgies during Easter Week behind closed doors, it said on Wednesday, and called on the public to observe coronavirus restrictions, staying home and praying more, in order to protect their fellow beings.
“We should be ready for the case on schools remaining closed after the Easter break”, minister of Education Niki Kerameos stated at SKAI TV station this morning. She said that the ministry is doing everything possible so that the school year is not lost and university entrance exams to be held as close to the initial date as possible, but as she noted “everything depends on the guidelines of health authorities”.
Αnd the weather forecast…
Partly cloudy in Attica today with the temperature expected to reach a maximum of 13 degrees Celsius.
