Plevris: EU countries aiming to lift Covid restrictions by mid-March

All the countries at the EU Health Ministers Council meeting said that they aim to lift remaining restrictions to control the transmission of the coronavirus by mid-March, depending on the pressure facing individual countries’ health systems, Health Minister Thanos Plevris said on Thursday.

However, the minister, who announced four days ago that he had been infected with Covid-19, warned on Skai TV that “there is no end to the pandemic” and there should be no complacency from the public, as a resurgence of the pandemic is possible in autumn.

Regarding Wednesday’s decision to lift the restrictions in Greece, he said that the vaccination rate in the general population is now, over 81 percent.

Experts agree to ease some measures in Greece

The expert committee advising the government on the handling of the pandemic, has agreed to ease several ongoing measures after convening Wednesday.

It agreed to increase capacity at sporting events to 50%, to allow standing customers who are fully vaccinated at entertainment venues, and for school trips to start as of March 1.

However, the committee was not in favor of allowing the organization of large events celebrating Carnival to proceed.

However, they reportedly discussed allowing indoor carnival events with the mandatory display of vaccine certificates.

Experts are concerned that parades could become super-spreader events, which, combined with the increased travel recorded during the days of Carnival, could quickly disrupt ongoing efforts to contain the pandemic.

Greece passes 25.000 Covid death milestone

Greek health authorities announced 19,509 new coronavirus cases and 82 virus-related deaths on Wednesday. The National Organization for Public Health (EODY) also stated that there are currently 485 patients being treated in Intensive Care Units across Greece.

Wednesday’s toll has moved the total number of virus-related deaths in Greece since the start of the pandemic past the 25,000 milestone, with a total of 25,001 fatalities. The reported total of Covid-19 cases over the same period rose to 2,235,920