Opposition accuses Greek gov’t of losing pandemic control

“The New Democracy government has lost control of the pandemic through its own choices and at the same time has lost the trust of society,” main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance spokesperson Nassos Iliopoulos said on Monday in an interview 90.4 FM radio station.

Speaking about the self tests, he said that from the minutes of the committee published the previous day, it appeared that “there was no health recommendation from them but it was a decision that the government had ‘pushed upon’ the committee of experts”.

He added that “according to the European health committee, self tests can only be used as a complementary tool, as they give a large percentage of false negative results in asymptomatic carriers”.

Iliopoulos stated that “for five months now we have been in a lockdown which clearly does not work, from November until today we have mourned 8,836 of our fellow citizens.”

“After so many months of a failed lockdown, the signs of psychological fatigue in the citizens are now obvious.”

In a statement issued later, SYRIZA urged the government to open against restaurants and cafes with strict hygiene protocols and to stop blaming citizens for the spread of the virus.

On its part KINAL also accused the government of failure to deal with the pandemic and urged it government to take all necessary measures in time for workers in the tourism.

“The vaccination of workers in tourism is an immediate priority,” opposition Movement for Change (KINAL) leader Fofi Gennimata said on Monday, during a debate in the Parliament.

Gennimata explained that the question submitted by the Movement for Change aims to avoid making last year’s mistakes in tourism and to take all necessary measures in time, so as not to lose several billions in revenues.

“You have failed. You have shown inadequacy and incompetence in this major issue,” she said, pointing to the unconditional opening of the land borders [last year], the lack of agreements with third countries, the confused and delayed health protocols, the distinctions made between tourist areas as “supposedly dangerous….not dangerous”, as well as wavering on ferry transport and failures in the Social Tourism Programme.