Greece announced on Wednesday March 3 that the containment due to the coronavirus would be extended again until March 16 and would be accompanied by even more restrictive measures, while the country is going through the "
hardest period of the pandemic
".
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Greece, confined since November 7, 2020, experienced its highest daily rate of infections on Wednesday, with more than 2,700 new cases, Greek Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias told reporters.
"
We are going through the hardest part of this pandemic,
" he warned, saying that Athens' public hospitals had been under "
unbearable pressure
" for weeks.
"
At the rate at which new hospitalizations are going, the health system is exceeding its limits in terms of infrastructure and personnel
", he said, insisting on "
the significant increase
" in contagions with the English variant of the coronavirus.
As a result, a military hospital and two private hospitals in Athens will have to take care of non-covid patients in order to free up hundreds of beds in public hospitals to accommodate coronavirus patients.
The confinement, already extended several times and which was due to end on March 8, will be extended again until March 16, accompanied by reinforced measures from Thursday for residents who will no longer be able to leave the borders of their municipality even to do so. running or exercising.
These "
measures are aimed at reducing mobility."
We are staying at home, in our neighborhoods,
”announced Deputy Minister of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias at the same press briefing.
Forty new deaths from the coronavirus were announced on Wednesday, bringing the total death toll to nearly 6,600 in a country of 11 million people.
So far nearly 200,000 people have been infected in Greece since the start of the pandemic a year ago, and more than 430 are hospitalized in intensive care.
More than 950,000 people have been vaccinated so far.