Greece will open for tourism in May
In mid-May, Greece again hopes to be able to receive tourists after several extensive shutdowns.
According to Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis, tourists are welcome from 14 May. But everyone will have to show documentation that they have either been vaccinated against covid-19, have developed antibodies or that they have just tested negative. Tourists must also expect that they can be picked out at random to be crowned.
The government’s goal is that so many Greeks will be vaccinated by the time it creates a “wall of immunity” around the local population.
The reopening of the country has been named “Operation Freedom” and will be possible thanks to large vaccine deliveries during the second quarter, including more than one million doses of Pfizer vaccines, government spokeswoman Aristotelia Peloni said.
By May, the plan is for everyone over the age of 60 to be vaccinated.
So far, one million of the country’s 11 million inhabitants have received at least one vaccine dose. Of these, 400,000 have been fully vaccinated.
Greeks living on the islands are at the forefront of the vaccine queue. The authorities have also decided to use the Armed Forces to carry out a rapid mass vaccination on the islands, which are popular tourist destinations and have many older inhabitants. At the end of April, the plan is for all the inhabitants of the smallest islands to be vaccinated, while it will take longer in Crete, Rhodes and Corfu.
Greece is now in its fifth month with severe coronary restrictions due to high infection pressure and great pressure on hospitals. They are expected to be extended by another week on Friday.
(© NTB)
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