News in brief
Supermarkets will be open from 13:00 to 19:00 on Good Friday while on Holy Saturday they will remain open until 20:00, according to a statement issued by the General Secretariat for Commerce and Consumer Protection of the Ministry of Development and Investments regarding the opening hours of the stores.
On Easter Sunday, bakeries and patisseries will operate normally.
The Health Ministry’s coronavirus spokesman and infectious diseases professor Sotiris Tsiodras on Thursday evening dispelled speculative reports that the country’s elderly will be allowed to leave their homes sometime soon.
The professor also announced 15 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Greece in the last 24 hours, and 3 new deaths.
The Covid-19 infections total in Greece stands at 2,207, of whom 569 were infected abroad and 921 in Greece.
Deaths total 105 since the start of the outbreak, of whom 29 were women. Of the 105, the majority had underlying health issues and their average age was over 70 years old.
The Greek government has doubled fines and included removal or car plates for anyone who travels without reason for Orthodox Easter this weekend.
During the daily briefing on coronavirus developments Thursday, Civil Protection Deputy Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias spoke extensively of the great majority of citizens who have observed faithfully the lockdown restrictions, and explained the introduction of additional ones, particularly for Easter.
“One in ten Greeks has said directly or explicitly that they will not follow directions. They do not want to change their habits for one day, as if nothing is going on,” he said.
The stricter controls will go into effect at 9 p.m. on Saturday (April 18) to midnight on Easter Monday (April 20), throughout Greece, and will incur a fine of 300 euros, up from 150 euros so far, while their car plates will be removed temporarily.
The next live TV briefing on the coronavirus pandemic in Greece will take place on Easter Monday, April 20, authorities said.
The Metro, the electric railway and the tram will operate on a holiday schedule until Monday.
Global coronavirus cases pass 2.1 million. The total number of coronavirus cases across the world has reached at least 2,158,250, according to Johns Hopkins University. The number of cases of coronavirus registered globally passed 1.5 million on 9 April. Deaths have passed 144,000.
China’s GDP shrinks 6.8% in March quarter. China has reported its first ever quarterly contraction at 6.8%, its slowest pace on record. China’s economy has not recorded a contraction since 1992 when the country began publishing quarterly GDP data. In 2019, China already posted its slowest growth in almost 30 years.
US president Donald Trump has issued guidelines for reopening the country, with three phases each dependent on states meeting certain criteria. Trump says states who meet Phase 1 criteria can reopen tomorrow (on Friday), and that 29 states will reopen “relatively soon”.
More than 20 thousand residents in Athens, belonging to vulnerable and sensitive groups, will receive today food packages, ahead of the Easter holiday, from the Municipality of Athens.
And the weather forecast…
Sunny in Attica today with the temperature expected to reach a maximum of 21 degrees Celsius.
