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No full lockdown for unvaccinated citizens, says Greece’s PM

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakisruled out a full lockdown that would only affect the unvaccinated, in an interview with “Good morning, Britain” magazine of British broadcaster ITV during a visit to London on Tuesday.

“We have a strict policy but we will not go as far as Austria,” the Greek PM said referring to measures implemented in Austria since last weekend and government ministers in Athens stated that they favorite the idea

Greece, said the prime minister, “relies heavily on testing” and has imposed measures banning the unvaccinated from restaurants and other “Covid-free” venues.

“The vaccine passports are working,” he said of the measures, which allow people with certificates of immunity complete freedom.

Since new restrictions went into place two weeks ago demanding negative rapid and PCR tests from all unvaccinated people seeking service at places like cafes, bars and retail stores, Greece has “seen a significant uptake on vaccinations,” Mitsotakis said. The combination of different measures appears to be an “effective strategy,” he added.

The Greek prime minister conceded that the national health system “is under a lot of pressure” and said that the government is “trying to help our doctors and nurses address this spike.”

“But nine out of 10 patients in intensive care beds right now are unvaccinated and it’s a real pity,” he added.

On a more optimistic note, Mitsotakis appeared confident of a “Covid-free summer,” and urged Britons to “book their holidays as soon as possible.”

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4 comments

  1. I am 56 years old. All my life, I heard that what Austria is now doing is called ‘blackmailing’. All my life I heard that this is something that is not allowed and is criminal. I am very surprised to see that a majority of people now thinks this is normal. All countries have restrictions for unvaccinated people, but they are not that far-going as the ones in Austria. Anyway, I am vaccinated, but I don’t agree with any restrictions for unvaccinated. The vaccine is not mandatory (they can’t make it mandatory, as it is not approved yet and still experimental, only allowed under a temporary license by the EMA), so this is just a sneaky way to force people. According to me, this is something not done.
    I live in Belgium, and as you know we have 3 regions here: the Flemish part, with a vaccination rate of 85% of all the adults, Walloon (approx. 70%) and Brussels (approx 65%). The ratio with the highest cases incidence and the highest number of hospital admissions is … the Flemish part.
    Also if you look at the European statistics (ecdc), you’ll see that countries with the highest vaccination ratios (like Belgium, but also Ireland) are showing the highest number of cases per 100.000 (last 14 days).
    So instead of asking whether the vaccines work, looking at these facts, I think it would be better to ask whether the vaccines don’t make things worse unfortunately.
    To all those in favor of showing QR-codes or vaccination certificates in bars and restos, I have the following question: do you really want your children and grandchildren to live in a world for the rest of their lifes, where they are only allowed to do something if they can prove they had all their necessary jabs from time to time, that they were tested for whatever, and that they have to show whether they have been good (social credit system like China, climate risk budget, …)? I am certain that I don’t want that!! But if we keep on accepting all these restrictions, step by step, this is where we are heading towards.