The authorities in Greece announced on Saturday the closure of all schools as the country faces a spike in coronavirus infections and deaths.
Although Greece was relatively successful in containing the first phase of the pandemic, in the spring, the second wave has been more taxing. Greek health authorities announced 3,038 new infections on Friday, a large number of them in the north, where hospitals are under particular pressure, with deaths and intubations increasing sharply in recent days.
Greece has added a daily average of 2,489 new cases over the past seven days, pushing its total caseload since the start of the pandemic to 69,675. Deaths are rising rapidly, with an average of more than 40 a day over the last week.
High schools had already closed as part of the country’s second lockdown, which was introduced earlier this month, and they will continue to operate by remote learning. The new restrictions mean that kindergartens and primary schools will also close, until at least the end of the month.
Announcing the new measures, Greece’s education minister, Niki Kerameus, said that the authorities understood the “upheaval” being created for parents but that health experts had said the move was necessary. Last month, Ms. Kerameus announced via a tweet that she and her husband had tested positive for the virus and would enter isolation.
A nationwide public curfew is now also in effect from 9 p.m. until 5 a.m., with exceptions made for people who need to go out for work, to visit a doctor or to walk a pet.
The curfew was announced a few days after Greece’s second nationwide lockdown began, which closed most shops and reinstated a system enforced during the spring lockdown that required people to send a text message to the government citing their reason for leaving their house.
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November 14, 2020 at 11:18PM
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Greece closes all schools as part of its second lockdown. - The New York Times
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