Greece welcomed New Year’s Day with stricter restrictions and cancelled public and private events as Omicron spreads rapidly through the country.
Meanwhile, health authorities are overwhelmed with hospitalisations and delays in testing while the Delta variant remains active.
In the past 24 hours ending at 3p Saturday, Greece has announced 30,010 new cases and 59 fatalities with 620 patients on ventilators.
As less people have been available to test for COVID-19 officials have expressed fears of infectious members of the community returning to sensitive locations such as public transport, civil service bureaus, hospitals, schools and universities.
Disruptions are expected to several industries and infrastructure, according to Interior Minister Makis Voridis.
“Working from home will mostly apply to civil servants that do not deal directly with the public,” he said.
“There is a plan indicating, at each agency, how many people can work from home.”
As many services and businesses are scheduled to resume operation later this week it remains unclear how many employees will need to be quarantined.
Moreover, as the Omicron variant has mainly been detected in younger age groups, it is not yet know what its effects will be on older citizens.
