Athens is raising the alert level sharply in view of Christmas, adopting the corresponding practice of many countries in the last twenty-four hours, as the "Omicron" variant exceeds in contagiousness all known mutations of the coronavirus. Following the lockdown in the Netherlands, London cancelled all festivities yesterday, while schools, gyms, bars and casinos in Quebec, Canada, temporarily shut down due to the rapid transmission of the new variant.
Whereas it is a matter of days for Greece to experience the full spread of the Omicron variant possibly in January -as cases are doubling every 2 to 3 days, according to the President of the National Immunization Committee, Maria Theodoridou - new health restrictions are ready to be activated by Megaro Maximou, in order to keep the control of the spread of the coronavirus at combatant levels, despite the festive atmosphere.
Scientists decide
The "green light" for the activation of the government's emergency plan for the holidays is expected to be lit today - the meeting of the Committee of Experts (at 10 am the subcommittee and then at 1 pm the plenary session) of the Ministry of Health - with relevant announcements from the government's side not being ruled out within the day. At 11 a.m., moreover, the cabinet meets, during whose session the guidelines of the new package of measures, from which the possibility of a general lockdown is categorically excluded.
"Holiday" restrictions
Any second thought in this direction was rejected yesterday by both the Minister of Health, Thanos Plevris, and the Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiades, leaving, however, an open window for additional "holiday" restrictions.
the measure of showing a negative Rapid test certificate for entry into enclosed areas during the vespers, a measure that concerns vaccinated citizens, seems highly likely. Speaking to Mega, Mr Economou said that "we are only considering those who, on the evening of New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve, we will see, I don't want to get ahead of myself, the Commission will probably say towards New Year's Eve, in addition to the fact that only vaccinated people are allowed to go indoors, that they will be provided with the results of the rapid test".
The rationale
The choice of this "exceptional" measure is intended to "further ensure that they and all those around them are as sealed off as possible from the risk of there being someone there who is ill", in order, according to the Government spokesman, to prevent the virus from being transmitted in excess. At the same time, conducting diagnostic testing as a prerequisite for entering enclosed spaces is also estimated to contribute to the general tracing of the community to a large extent in order to record the current epidemiological picture of the country, which is a challenge for scientists at this stage."Photo" of the pandemic
In this direction, Health Minister Thanos Pleyris revealed yesterday that "what we wanted was to have a test on the whole population in order to see the real picture". "While we invited people, unfortunately there was not the response that we would have liked during the weeks of free testing," he commented, leaving open the possibility that "at some point we will have an overall epidemiological picture of the country - both for the vaccinated and the unvaccinated."Faithful compliance
At the same time, the Government Spokesman reiterated yesterday that "it is very important to comply with the measures and the recommendations and from there we make further punctual interventions in things that everyone understands that there is an increased possibility of a problem", as he noted, acknowledging as to the cost of the Rapid test for the revival that "it is a burden. Any burden is unpleasant." However, Mr. Economou countered that "I think we need this extra assurance for just this one day" and recalled that there is a cap on the price of diagnostic tests.Constant vigilance
The tightening of the restrictive framework in view of the holidays, although "extraordinary", may not prove to be a last resort, as scientists worldwide are sounding the alarm about the rate of spread of the Omicron variant. "We have to monitor the data and be ready to adjust our strategy to deal with what comes up," he said yesterday against the backdrop of the new year, when regions such as Quebec are bringing back telecommuting and tele-education.In addition to the holiday measure, controls will be intensified during the festive period, as it is essential - especially at this point in time - that all existing measures are dutifully applied in order to prevent the transmission of the virus. In particular, the critical period for the sweeping checks is defined as that from Christmas Eve (24 December) to New Year's Eve (31 December), while their scope will be such that they will come out "possibly as many teams have come out in total throughout the pandemic", as described by Health Minister Thanos Plevris, referring to "sweeping" checks. Issuing a stern warning, he stressed that "the shop that would think of not complying with the measures and having even one person inside, who will be unvaccinated, at any time, 2:00, 3:00, 4:00, 5:00, should know that they will regret it miserably. "
[/p]The "safari" of checks to enforce health measures will involve 10,000 police officers during the festive season, in a giant public health patrol operation to limit any massive spread of the virus, both during the days of the revelry and those in between. In this context, "the Greek police, in fact, throughout this period are carrying out 95% of the checks. It has taken on a very heavy burden and so will the men and women of the ELAS, with self-denial, in the coming festive days" described the Minister of Citizen Protection, Takis Theodorikakos, announcing that "ten thousand police officers will be on the streets throughout this period, every day, from now until New Year's Day, all the festive days with a double mission: Order and security and at the same time the implementation of measures against the coronavirus epidemic." Preventing the worst, an invitation to a revelry of 8-10 people at most and with a negative Rapid test certificate in their possession was suggested by the President of HINAP, Matina Pagoni to citizens, noting that "if we really want everyone to be safe and have fun at the same time, I think that a test is not that difficult," she said. In addition, in the new package of measures under development in recent hours, the recommendation of the use of masks outdoors and indoors is still under consideration, as well as increased tests for unvaccinated citizens, while the measure of mandatory negative (PCR / Rapid) tests for those entering Greece has been implemented since last Sunday.[/p]Source: protothema.gr
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