Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis did not hide the government’s concern about the dangerous relaxation in the implementation of coronavirus protection measures during the televised conference on Covid-19 on Wednesday morning at the Maximos Palace.

Mr. Mitsotakis left open the possibility of taking further measures, if and where deemed necessary, based on the epidemiological picture.

The government realizes that the situation may be more critical than the quarantine period, precisely because there is no longer the luxury of deciding on a second, total lockdown, as the Prime Minister noted.

“We must reactivate our national vaccine, which is nothing more than our ‘philotimo*‘, and together we must follow the measures indicated by the experts and I am sure that if we do we will emerge victorious from this difficult battle as well”, the Prime Minister stressed, at the beginning of the teleconference.

“We are at a critical juncture in the battle that we have all been waging together since February, state and society, against the coronavirus pandemic. We are seeing a significant increase in positive cases in recent days, which, however, differs substantially from the first wave of the pandemic and this is of course something that worries us”, he said.

“We must say that the increase in cases is mainly due to the relaxation of compliance to the measures within our country in July. And I believe we all have a responsibility for it. Only 10% of cases are imported, most cases at the moment are domestic”, said the Prime Minister.

“We had stated very clearly in the announcements made at the end of April by me and the members of the government and by all those in charge that the plan for the next day is not a plan to leave the public health and the financial crisis, nor is it a simple plan to return to some normalcy. Normalcy as we knew it until February and until the scientific community discovers the vaccine, but also the necessary treatment protocols, does not exist. That is why no complacency is justified”, he underlined.

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At the beginning of his speech, Kyriakos Mitsotakis referred to the unprecedented tragedy in Lebanon.

“Let me make a brief introductory statement starting with my heartfelt condolences and thoughts to the afflicted people of Lebanon and especially Beirut after this tragic explosion we all saw yesterday. In consultation with Nikos Hardalias, but also with the Head of the Armed Forces, the first C-130 with men and women of EMAK is already taking off immediately as the first needs, as requested by the Lebanese, concern human resources in a search and rescue operation. And of course, we are ready to assist with additional medical equipment as I imagine that as the hours and days go by we will realize the magnitude of this unprecedented tragedy that struck Lebanon”, he said.