Update – 16/11/2021
November 16, 2021
As of the latest update by the Greek authorities, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 diagnosed cases in Greece 838,824. 72 new deaths were reported raising the total number to 16,838. The number of patients treated in intensive care units is currently 551. 6,950 new cases were announced yesterday in Greece. 1,522 of the new cases were found in the Attica region and 1,226 new cases in the Thessaloniki region.
Cafes, restaurants and bars have declared a strike on Tuesday in protest at measures aimed at curbing rising coronavirus infections.
Representatives of the country’s restaurateurs will also be meeting with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Athens to deliver a petition calling for the measures to be lifted.
Catering professionals say that business has dropped and jobs are at risk since restrictions were introduced earlier this month demanding that customers without a Covid vaccination or recovery certificate show a negative rapid or PCR test to be served. This also applies to hair salons and retail stores, with the exception of pharmacies, supermarkets and other food stores, while new restrictions have also been introduced on the number of customers per square meter.
The sector has also taken umbrage with the fact that similar restrictions have not been imposed for churches, sports stadiums and public transportation.
The Justice Ministry has told Kathimerini legislative action will be taken to deal with parents refusing to send their children to school due to their opposition to testing and mask use.
Supreme Court prosecutor Vassilios Pliotas has already initiated a intervention procedure against a couple in Alistrati in Serres, northern Greece, who won’t allowing their four children to go to school.
Kathimerini understands similar interventions have taken place in Athens and other cities, where social services are being mobilized by prosecutors to determine the conditions in which children are being cared for. However, legal complications and glitches remain.
Prosecutorial sources say education is compulsoryby law and it is on this basis that the prosecutor intervenes when parents do not send their children to school. However, the sources say the law that provides for sanctions against parents does not apply.
Health Minister Thanos Plevris said on Monday that, if deemed necessary, the government will introduce further restrictions for the unvaccinated.
Asked if a lockdown for the unvaccinated is on the table, like the one in Austria, he said that any measures “are protective, not punitive,” given that the pressure on the National Health System stems from patients who have not been vaccinated.
“The government is discussing whether more measures are needed for the unvaccinated. These will also be discussed by the committee of experts that will meet on Tuesday or Wednesday,” he said, clarifying that despite the increase in cases, “there are some more encouraging factors, as the number of cases seems to be stabilizing.”
Public health sector workers protested in Athens over pay and conditions on Monday as hospitals struggled with a new surge in Covid-19 cases and authorities considered further restrictions.
The protesters said they were underpaid, overworked and understaffed. They called for more hirings, for the government to include them on a list of hazardous professions which receive hazard pay benefits, and for private doctors to be ordered to help.
A decision by the government to suspend unvaccinated health sector workers has increased staff shortages, they said. Greece made vaccinations mandatory for nursing home staff in July and for healthcare workers in September.
Hospitals, particularly in northern Greece, are scrambling to treat patients, as cases hit new record highs this month of more than 6,000 daily, and wards are running out of space.
“The stretchers at the hospitals on duty are increasing by the dozens, (and) patients are being chosen for intensive care units by priority, based on their ages,” said the president of the Public Hospital Workers Federation, Michalis Giannakos.
“Patients’ lives are in danger, and staff that have remained are like elastic bands stretched from clinic to clinic, from ward to ward.”
Last week authorities announced new measures which require the unvaccinated to provide negative tests to enter cafes and restaurants, state services and banks. Public and private sector employees also now need to take tests twice a week to enter their workplace.
The government is trying to avoid another lockdown, but with only about 60 percent of the population of 11 million vaccinated, it is considering further restrictions, including possibly more mandatory vaccinations and testing.
Only one in 10 now being treated in intensive care units for Covid-19 is fully vaccinated, government spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou said on Monday.
Eleven private clinics have volunteered to provide space for Covid patients, he said, adding that the government had asked private doctors to offer their services and could order them to do so if necessary.
In more detail, the 6,950 new cases detected per Regional Unit: