Greece confirmed 1,698 new coronavirus cases on Sunday, of which 25 were identified at the country’s entry points, according to the National Public Health Organization (EODY). The country also marked a negative record in fatalities with 71 new deaths, bringing the total of COVID-19 deaths to 1,106. The average age of all deaths in Greece since the start of the pandemic has been 80 years, and 97 per cent had an underlying condition or were 70 years and above, while 451 were women.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Greece reached 74,205 of which 4,648 relate to travel from abroad and 19,081 to already confirmed infection cases.
A total of 392 individuals are intubated. Their median age is 64 years, 78.8 per cent have an underlying condition or are aged 70 or more and 121 of them are women. 376 have been discharged from ICUs since the start of the pandemic.

As a result of the rising numbers, outdoor gatherings have been banned in Greece from 6am Sunday through to 9pm Wednesday. Greek police chief Michalis Karamalakis hopes the ban will stop people from gathering to commemorate the anniversary of the Polytechnic uprising. The ban also foresees fines of up to 5,000 euros for those that violate for participants of gatherings of more than four people.

Greece’s Education Minister Niki Kerameus acknowledged Greece’s “leap to the digital transformation” in an interview with Athens-Macedonian News Agency on Sunday, a few hours after the announcement for the suspension of operation of all the grades of the primary and secondary education and the transition to the modern distance learning form. She said roughly 40,000 digital classes have been operating daily from the first week of the distance learning programme with more than four million pupils. Ms Kerameus said the problem of the e-learning system in the first days of its implementation was due to a technical glitch with the server of the platform of the provider in London. “Difficulties will continue to exist but we are here to resolve them and to correct any irregularity and improve the solutions” she said.

Over 1,800 minks were culled in a farm in Siatista, northern Greece, over the weekend after a breeder tested positive for COVID-19 and samples from nine animals (both dead and alive) showed that they had been infected by COVID-19. More are expected to be culled.