According to Greece’s National Organization for Public Health (EODY)  the country recorded 6,424 new coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours to Tuesday 3pm.

The numbers came through 555,381 tests, with a positivity rate of 1.15 per cent.
Sadly, there were 77 fatalities bringing the total number of deaths in Greece since the start of the pandemic to 20,055.

From the active cases detected there are currently 661 intubated patients in ICUs across Greece with the majority of those – 82.45 per cent – unvaccinated or only partially vaccinated. Of those intubated only17.55 per cent are fully vaccinated.

Most of the positive cases have been recorder in the wider area of Attiki (2,264) followed by Thessaloniki (1,003 cases).

The total number of cases in Greece since the start of the pandemic now stands at 1,044,301.

Even with cases numbers surging rapidly across Europe, the Greek government is not planning to introduce additional coronavirus safety measures ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. In a virtual meeting chaired by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, it was decided that citizens should test themselves before and after attending gatherings and parties at Christmas and New Year’s. As a token of good will, the government has made two free kits available per citizens at pharmacies for people who have a social security number (AMKA).

“It is true that I was advised to introduce mandatory rapid tests for everybody (vaccinated and unvaccinated) for admission to all leisure and entertainment venues. I rejected the proposal because I thought the measure would be unfair to the vaccinated and ultimately too difficult to implement,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the cabinet meeting.

“We want to spend the holidays in safety, without bringing the economy and society to a standstill, and without having to pay for our holiday activities afterwards,” he added urging people to be responsible.

Mr Mitsotakis did not exclude the possibility, however, of the government introducing stricter restrictions after the holiday period such as expanding work-from-home schemes and changing the opening hours of bars and restaurants, however, he said that schools should not be shut down again.