Greece battles coronavirus resurgence after early success

Workers in bright yellow vests stand on dock in Greece’s main port of Piraeus, greeting hundreds of masked ferry passengers with fliers and occasional temperature check.

“Would you like a coronavirus test? Yes, it’s free. Right over re, in white structure, you’ll see signs,” y tell disembarking passengers.

Free on--spot tests for travelers returning from Greek islands where outbreaks have occurred is latest in an arsenal of measures authorities are using to tackle a resurgence of COVID-19 in a country that has so far mand to dodge worst of pandemic.

New localized restrictions, including a midnight curfew for bars, restaurants and cafes and a ban on large garings have been imposed, mainly in popular tourist destinations such as Aegean Sea island of Mykos,

Maria Skopeliti, whose husband and son work on Mykos, was one of a handful of people opting for voluntary coronavirus test in Piraeus on a recent morning. She estimated that more than two-thirds of people in Mykos h been igring personal protective measures.

“Even though I was quite careful... you can’t be sure because it’s an island that lives to a different beat,” said 57-year-old Skopeliti. “It’s logical because re are many young people, you can’t restrict m.”

number of confirmed virus cases and deaths in Greece remains lower than in many or European countries. As of Wednesday, total cases in country of about 11 million people stood at 9,280, with 248 deaths and 33 people intubated in intensive care units.

Belgium, by comparison, with a population of around 11.5 million, has reported nearly 82,000 confirmed cases and close to 10,000 deaths, one of world’s highest per capita pandemic mortality rates.

But Greece's new daily confirmed cases have been spiraling in recent weeks, reaching a record 293 on Wednesday.

“Yes I’m worried, of course I’m worried, and we’ve rung alarm bell,” Gkikas Magiorkinis, a University of Ans assistant professor of hygiene and epidemiology, told AP last week. “That’s why we’re taking measures." including generalized use of masks.

measures appear to be working, Magiorkinis, who serves on a committee of scientists vising Greek government, said during a Tuesday news conference.

“For w it seems that dramatic increase of cases ... has been limited,” he said, ting spike in first week of August was projected to le to more than 400 new cases per day, which so far has t occurred.

“ slowdown of this dramatic increase came relatively earlier than natural development of a full second wave, and coincides with taking of measures for use of masks, and with reinforced restrictions taken in areas with outbreaks,” Magiorkinis said.

For a small country barely emerging from grip of a brutal dece-long financial crisis, Greece appeared to have done remarkably well during pandemic’s initial phase in spring, when Europe became second continent after Asia with coronavirus spreing exponentially.

government imposed a nationwide lockdown, ordering people to stay home, shuttering businesses and closing borders. It also scrambled to bolster a weak health system pummeled by years of budget cuts, anuncing hiring of thousands of temporary health workers and increasing intensive care capacity.

Its strategy seemed to work. Greece was spared heart-rending scenes all too common in fellow Mediterranean countries Italy and Spain: of overflowing morgues, decimated nursing homes and anguished intensive care doctors forced to choose who to try to save and who to let die due to a lack of equipment and .

But country can survive in a vacuum, certainly t one still grappling with aftermath of a depression that wiped out a quarter of its ecomy.

In a bid to salv its vital tourism industry, Greece welcomed foreign visitors and grually lifted nearly all lockdown restrictions in early summer.

Inevitably, number of confirmed coronavirus cases mounted.

Critics have accused government of reopening to tourists without a coherent plan, a charge officials vehemently reject.

“Is tourism responsible for increase in number of cases in Greece? answer is categorically ,” Civil Protection Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias said last week. main culprits, he said, were large private garings such as weddings and residents igring protective measures like social distancing.

Travelers arriving from abro accounted for just 17% of new cases, Hardalias said, while 83% was domestic transmission.

On Tuesday, Hardalias said that 360,200 tests were carried out on nearly 3 million international arrivals between July 1 — when Greece opened its borders to tourists — and Aug. 23, and just 723 people tested positive.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas insisted last week that Greece “was and continues to be at a better epidemiological level, compared to or countries.”

Petsas also attributed increase to people igring protective measures, and ted aver of those testing positive h dropped to around 36, from just over 48 in March.

Authorities have been particularly alarmed by summer party scene on islands, involving both tourists and vacationing Greeks.

On Mykos, police have played a cat-and-mouse game with parties held in private villas to skirt restrictions on bars and clubs.

In one incident, police broke up a party where nearly 500 guests reportedly included a couple from Spain that h been placed in a quarantine hotel after at least one of m tested positive for virus on arrival.

What currently worries experts most is virus spreing in facilities that house most vulnerable people: retirement homes and hospitals.

Omiusly, outbreaks have alrey been reported in two retirement homes and at two hospitals, all on mainland. Extra measures have been imposed, including compulsory coronavirus tests for employees returning from vacation.

"re is an effort to reduce risk,” Magiorkinis said. “We can’t eliminate it, but re is risk mitigation.”

(Im Credit: AP)