Athens and the whole region of Attica has seen a worrying surge of coronavirus cases recently along with increasing numbers of cases needing hospitalisation.
The cases detected on Tuesday were 1,526, more than double from the previous day, and 750 of them emerged in the region of Attica.
As a result, Prime Minister Kostantinos Mitsotakis, announced on Tuesday evening that the region will go into a near-total lockdown from Thursday and until February 28, claiming that the faster the restrictions are applied, “the faster they will be lifted”.
From Thursday, all retail stores and schools will close, as well as hair salons and churches in the region of Attica. Supermarkets and pharmacies will continue to operate, whilst restaurants and cafes will operate only for delivery.
This will be the second total lockdown in the region since the start of the pandemic, which was enforced last year, from March 23 until May 4.
Since early November the restrictions enforced in Greece were more flexible allowing retail stores for example to operate either with click-and-collect, or even under normal conditions. Schools have also opened since January, with the exception of high schools, that have continued with remote learning.
The new restrictions were decided after the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) reported the sudden surge of new cases on Tuesday.
Health teams conducted a total of 53,015 tests in the last 24 hours, the largest number performed in one day since the start of the pandemic.
