Greece govt aiming to restart tourism on May 14 if Covid remains in check

The Greek government is aiming to restart tourism on May 14, as long as the Covid-19 epidemiological situation allows it, Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis said.

The country has scheduled a test run of safety protocol in April, welcoming visitors from European Union (EU) member states and countries like Israel, which have progressed

significantly in their mass vaccination programs, Xinhua news agency quoted the Minister as saying on Tuesday.

Greece will open its gates to tourists provided that they have either been vaccinated, have antibodies or a negative Covid-19 test, Theoharis said while virtually addressing the ITB Berlin 2021 international travel trade show.

Moreover, visitors could be subjected to random testing, and any quarantine or hospitalisation costs will be covered by the Greek state, he said.

Despite the unprecedented challenges, some 6 million travellers visited Greece in 2020, Theoharis noted.

In recent years, over 30 million people have visited the country annually.

On Tuesday, the country's National Public Health Organization (EODY) confirmed 3,215 new coronavirus cases and 46 deaths in the past 24 hours.

To date, Greece has a total of 209,462 confirmed cases since the first one was diagnosed on February 26, 2020. Fatalities now total 6,843.

More than 1.1 million Covid-19 vaccines have been administered so far, with about 370,000 people having received both doses.

--IANS

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