Greece wants COVID certificates for travel to islands from Monday

Authorities said today, citing Reuters, that Greece will require a certificate of vaccination or a negative coronavirus test from Monday from travelers to the islands.

The agency said that the slight increase in cases last week and concerns about the more contagious “delta” version of the virus prompted the Greek authorities to impose stricter rules on the islands.

“The delta variant is 100 per cent more contagious than the original virus and between 40 and 60 per cent more contagious than the British variant,” said Vana Papaevangelo, an expert on the government’s advisory committee on pandemic issues.

“The question now is how to delay its spread until vaccination is advanced,” she said.

Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said measures to curb the outbreak of new diseases would be local.

Greek health authorities today announced 761 new cases of infection, only one was found at the country’s borders, ANA-MPA reports.

So far, 423,185 cases of COVID-19 have been identified in Greece. Of the new confirmed infections in the past seven days, 93 were related to travel abroad and 677 were other confirmed cases.

In the past 24 hours, four infection-related deaths have been recorded. The total number of COVID-19 victims in Greece is 12,710, 95.2 percent of whom have comorbidities and/or were 70 or older, according to ANA-MPA.

A total of 189 patients on mechanical respiration in hospitals. The mean age of these patients was 67 years, and 84.1 percent of them had comorbidities and/or were 70 years or older.

The average age of newly infected people in Greece is 43, and the average age of those who died with the COVID-19 virus – 78, according to ANA-MPA.