Covid-19: Five Countries that Imported Most Cases to Greece
The Greek General Secretariat for Civil Protection on Tuesday held a media briefing and released data showing the countries of origin of travelers that have imported the most coronavirus (Covid-19) cases to Greece.
According to the data, during the July 1-September 6 period, the largest number of positive coronavirus infections were in found in travelers entering Greece from Albania (132), Bulgaria (102), Romania (89), Serbia (80) and France (54).
During the period under examination, 972 Covid-19 cases were confirmed from 451,908 tests performed out of a total of 3,553,035 incoming travelers in Greece.
More specifically, the data showed that in the July 1-September 6 period:
– 2,957,103 arrived to Greece by air, 334,549 tests were conducted and 641 were positive.
– 163,900 people traveled on a ferry, 21,116 tests were conducted and 28 were positive.
– 432,032 arrived by road, 96,243 tests were conducted and 303 were positive.
Infectious diseases expert Gkikas Magiorkinis, Deputy Health Minister Zoe Rapti and Civil Protection Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias.
During the briefing, Greek Civil Protection Deputy Minister Nikos Hardalias underlined that all tests are targeted.
“Targeting tests allow us to either open or close (to a country)… When an area from which we expect tourism, epidemiologically seems to have problems, we do not hesitate to take actions that work more safely for us,” he said.
“We are proceeding step by step with very targeted actions, daily effort and daily monitoring of internal data,” Hardalias said, adding that experts are constantly monitoring all the countries that Greece is interested in, either as tourism origins, or as areas through which citizens enter the country, especially from its land borders.
“The checks we do, including those at our land borders, ports and airports, are very specific and done under a certain strategy,” the deputy minister said, explaining that the number of tests conducted at the border points depends on the epidemiological state of countries.
“Where there seems to be an epidemiological outbreak, we increase the tests,” he said.
Hardalias noted that when a country is doing better from an epidemiological point, the number of tests to travelers from that country are reduced.
“Our effort is based on specific models and algorithms and is part of an overall strategy that concerns the opening of tourism,” Hardalias said.
Greek health authorities on Tuesday announced 169 new coronavirus cases (16 cases from travelers abroad), raising the total number to 11,832. The death toll in the country has reached 290.
ΠΗΓΗ GTP
