Greece’s Tourism Minister, Haris Theoharis, has proposed that Greece and the U.K. mutually lift the quarantine for travelers between the two countries. The UK should exempt Greeks from the planned quarantine measures for foreign nationals entering the country and in return Greece will not impose the 14-day quarantine on Brits entering Greece.
“If we don’t impose quarantine for people coming to Greece, from the UK from someday onwards, we would welcome it if the UK extended the same thing.”
In an interview with BBC’s “The Coronavirus Newscast” on Monday night, Theoharis was asked about the upcoming quarantine of international arrivals in the UK.
“This aggression shown by this country (the United Kingdom) in making these decisions (to impose quarantine) is completely understandable. What I can say is that we think this is a time to start thinking about lifting restrictions and trying to remove as many obstacles as possible,” Theoharis
Haris Theoharis told the BBC's #CoronavirusNewscast podcast, "If we don’t impose quarantine for people coming to Greece, from the UK from someday onwards, we would welcome it if the UK extended the same thing”. — Dino Sofos (@dinosofos) May 18, 2020 ” rel=”noopener” target=”_blank”>reportedly
He added that “We urge other countries, including the United Kingdom, to accept this as soon as possible. So if we don’t impose quarantine on people who come to Greece from the UK from day one onwards, we would welcome it if the United Kingdom did the same. ”
Speaking about the Greek health system (ESY) and its readiness to protect citizens and tourists, the Minister said that Greek authorities had “done everything possible” to protect citizens with timely action, but had also strengthened the national health system “which is now stronger than ever.”
“We feel confident that the public health system ESY can face any possible situation,” Theoharis said on the podcast you can listen to here.
Haris Theoharis told the BBC's #CoronavirusNewscast podcast, "If we don’t impose quarantine for people coming to Greece, from the UK from someday onwards, we would welcome it if the UK extended the same thing”.
— Dino Sofos (@dinosofos) May 18, 2020
On Monday, the Greek Civil Aviation Authority extended the 14-day quarantine for all passengers coming from abroad until the end of May. Passenger flights to/from UK and another six countries are banned until end of May as well.
According to the guardian, COVID-19 quarantine at UK borders may exclude countries with low rates on coronavirus infections.
you have managed virus extremely well.do not undo the good work by importing possible virus carriers inti greece now.i know tourism is one of the mainstays of your economy especialy in the islands but its to big a risk at the moment .
This is a bad idea I think.
My biggest concern would be in airport lounges
Great courage & hindsight was shown when implementing strict measures much earlier on than many other European countries, the UK & Sweden especially. Our country & the islands have remained healthier and have been labelled a safe-zone chiefly due to your actions & overall handling during the crisis. Please, please don’t undo the good work & spoil the efforts of the Greek people by allowing ‘open’ tourism too soon. The southern islands could have an extended season going into mid November, if flights, hotels, ferries etc had alternative/lengthened options? By the end of the summer, there will have been further studies to assess exactly how the virus is moving or disappearing (fingers-crossed))
Seega, seega…………………….
please do not let uk tourist in Greece have done really well so far you could kill thousands of your own people I am British and have lived on one of your small islands for 18 years do not put people risk .it will be a hard winter but we will come through it please rethink this idea thank you
This is the worst idea ever. UK should be at the bottom of the list, the country is completely screwed. That’s like saying “you know what, I haven’t had any water damage in my house, so let me remove the roof”
I totally agree. I live in one of the islands, free of the virus, Thank God but to allow Brits (which I am one of then) into Greece would destroy all the government has been working on to keep us safe and virus free. Please Brits, stay at home, holiday at home, enjoy your beautiful country but keep Greece safe.
I agree with everyone above who thinks this is a bad idea. The people on the islands have no natural ‘herd’ immunity unlike the Brit’s et al, who will come over. Working in a busy bar filled with ‘other’ Europeans not knowing what they carry does not incentivise me to go to work. A few hundred euro’s or my health or possibly life? It’s a very difficult problem to fix, but maybe the answer is Hydroxychloroquine and Zinc? WHO knows??
Das ist ein echtes DILEMMA!
Der Tourismus ist die einzige Quelle für die Griechen… und zugleich opfern sie die erworbene Virusfreiheit durch den Import der Ausländischen Besucher!!!
Hydroxychloroquin ist NICHT geeignet!!! Das weiss man heute sicher! Die Nebenwirkungen sind grauenvoll!!