News in brief
The European Union escalated its battle against the new coronavirus by unveiling a plan to ban nonessential travel into most of the bloc, but EU-wide efforts face dwindling support among members more focused on national welfare.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday proposed a 30-day ban that would cover all 27 EU countries except Ireland. EU leaders are expected to formally adopt the proposal today, at the teleconference of EU leaders, scheduled to take place at 6 pm.
All people arriving in Greece from abroad are to be required to self-isolate for 14 days, the government announced yesterday.
Additionally, all retail stores are to close from tomorrow, Wednesday with the exception of supermarkets, minimarkets, pet shops, pharmacies, cell phone shops, courier services, take away and delivery services, banks, butcher shops, kiosks and gas stations. Supermarkets will operate daily, including Sundays, from 7am to 10 pm.
Transportation means operate on a weekend schedule.
The e-learning pilot program, launched yesterday by the Ministry of Education in three prefectures (Achaia, Ilia and Zakynthos) will be extended today in 16 more prefectures.
The operation of all places of worship, regardless of religion or dogma, is suspended until March 30, the Greek government announced on Monday evening, as part of its efforts to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
Churches will remain open only for individual prayer, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in a tweet on his official account. “Protecting public health requires clear decisions,” he said.
The announcement followed a decision by the Greek Orthodox Church to suspend all daily services and rituals except Sunday prayers for an indefinite period.
The 3.5% primary surplus target will not be in force for Greece this year. At the same time, both expenditures related to the refugee issue and the ones that derive from the government’s financial measures to counter the impact of the coronavirus spread will not be taken into account in the final result. These are the three key findings from yesterday’s Eurogroup meeting on Greece, according to Finance Minister Christos Staikouras’ statements after the meeting.
Wall Street suffered its biggest drop since the crash of 1987 on Monday after unprecedented steps taken by the Federal Reserve, lawmakers and the White House to slow the spread and blunt the economic hit of the coronavirus failed to restore order to markets.
The S&P 500 tumbled 12%, closing at its lowest level since December 2018, despite the Fed’s surprise move late Sunday to cut interest rates to near zero.
And the weather forecast…
Sunny in Attica this morning with winds blowing from the northeast at a speed of 7 on the beaufort scale. The temperature today will reach a high of 13 degrees Celsius.
