The days around the Greek Orthodox Easter are considered crucial for the battle against the coronavirus and the lifting of the lockdown. How Greeks behave over the last days of the Holy Week, the Resurrection Saturday and Easter Sunday (April 16-19, 2020), how they comply with the lockdown measures, avoid gatherings and crowding and contain the spread of the virus will determine whether restrictions will be extended beyond the deadline of April 27 and for how long.
Government and heath authorities imply that development has been positive in the last couple of days, new confirmed cases are following a smooth course and therefore it is possible to start gradually lifting the restrictions, so that warming up of the economy and the market can began step by step.
If everything goes well, a thorough plan for the gradual lifting of the lockdown in Greece would be announced on April 27, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said on Thursday.
However, the final decisions will be taken after the scientific committee of the Greek National Health Organization (EODY) give the green light.
The government spokesman did not rule out a possible “ban on cars” over Easter Saturday and Sunday.
The government is determine to prohibit gatherings in yards and rooftops around the Easter table. With drones, helicopters, police patrols in neighborhoods and outside churches and controls at highways will be intensify from Good Friday (April 17) to Easter Monday (April 20)..
The government appears determined not to allow crowds in yards and rooftops.
If epidemiologists in the country consider that the spread of the coronavirus was “smooth” over the Easter days, they may give the OK for the movement restrictions to gradually start being lifted, two weeks later, that is as of May 4, 2020.
If the epidemiological picture after Easter is good, the measures can be lifted even from May 4.
First, it is small retail stores and hairdressers that are expected to open. Next on the list are restaurants, cafes and bars with outdoor tables that will have a safety distance among them, media suggest.
Specific hygiene rules will be applied, like the mandatory wearing of masks for hairdressers and limited number of customers inside stores.
Speaking to ANT1 TV on Thursday, Development Minister Adonis Georgiadis, said that “one general principle, when it comes to planning how and when stores will open, all I can say at the moment is that lifting the restrictive measures will be done reversely with regards to when they were shut down.” He added that if the “good scenario” regarding the course of the coronavirus infections apply, stores could open in the middle of May.
The Ministry of Education expects the experts’ recommendation for the schools opening after May 11. the plan reportedly foresees half number of students in each class, perhaps morning and afternoon classes.
For the 3rd grade in Lyceums, the goal is for the national exams to be held until the middle of July.
KTG understands that even if shops and other business facilities open again, movement restrictions for citizens will remain and that options in the movement permits will be expanded. Based on this ‘reverse’ lifting strategy restrictions for citizens will be the last ones to be lifted.
Authorities have said that even if the lockdown is lifted it will be imposed again if the coronavirus resurgences.
According to official data on Wednesday, Greece has 103 deaths and 2,192 confirmed cases in 50,175 conducted tests in a country with ten million inhabitants, since end of February.
