Covid-19: Greece’s New Restrictions for the Unvaccinated, Explained
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Greece’s new Covid-19 restrictions aim to protect citizens and keep the economy open, the country’s health minister, Thanos Plevris, said during a press conference on Friday.
The minister explained in detail the new measures announced yesterday by Prime Minster Kyriakos Mitsotakis as part of efforts to prevent the further spread of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Affecting unvaccinated citizens, the measures will come into force on Monday, November 22.
3 categories of indoor spaces in Greece
The new measures concern indoor spaces that are now divided in three categories.
Category 1: Spaces accessible to all citizens – vaccinated and unvaccinated – without any additional measures. Masks must be worn by all and social distancing rules followed wherever necessary.
These include stores offering essential goods such as supermarkets and other food stores as well as pharmacies.
Category 2: Spaces accessible to vaccinated citizens but also to unvaccinated who present a negative PCR or rapid Covid-19 test result conducted in the last 72 and 48 hours, respectively.
These include retail stores, hair and beauty salons, cafes and bars with outdoor seating as well as workplaces, schools and other educational institutions, and places of worship (churches).
Category 3: Indoor venues — restaurants, museums, theaters and cinemas — and also gyms, MICE venues and stadiums will be accessible only to the vaccinated or to those who present a recovery certificate (valid for six months).
Unvaccinated individuals are prohibited from entering the aforementioned indoor spaces even if they have a negative Covid-19 test result.
Minors aged 4-17 will be allowed access to all venues with a negative self-test result taken in the last 24 hours.
Verification checks to certificates and IDs will be conducted at entrances. All certificates (printed or on cell phones) will be scanned by the Covid Free app.
It is noted that people from non-EU countries can present their vaccination certificates on paper. It is reminded that only EU vaccination certificates are recognized by the Covid Free app as well as certificates from countries with a system compatible to the EU Digital COVID Certificate.
Citizens and businesses that fail to comply with the rules, will face steep fines.
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