“We remain open with the philosophy of the measures that are mainly addressed to the unvaccinated,” government spokesman Giannis Oikonomou told SKAI when asked about the partial lockdown that was imposed in the Netherlands.
“The decision and the will of the government is that there should be no horizontal local measures that will also concern vaccinated people,” Mr. Oikonomou clarified. “The market, the economy, education, will remain standing, no one wants to return to the status of SMS and e-learning,” he added.
“Those who are not vaccinated have the obligation to take a test, while from today, Saturday, the restrictions that used to apply in the supermarkets will apply. We do not close again, we apply the sanitary measures. “Those who are not vaccinated are the safest to rush to be vaccinated to celebrate with their own people to be as safe as possible,” he said. Regarding the third installment, he noted that “it is necessary as long as both installments (or one of Johnson & Johnson) to be fortified”.
As he pointed out, certain sanctions are indeed severe, but they are proportionately severe at stake.
“We are fighting a big battle with the pandemic, a battle to keep the market open, education, we have a market period ahead of them which is half a year, we have to do everything in our power to keep the market open” pointed out the government spokesman.
“The big battle is now being fought in the National Health System, we will do everything in our power to endure,” he said.
“We have a framework of health measures that supports this strategy, we are trying to expand the vaccination coverage that has been going particularly well lately, and most importantly, the battle in the NSS with our health workers at the forefront and with the government using every tool. to reduce as much as possible the loss of our fellow human beings “.
“From Monday recruitment of doctors if needed”
“An effort is underway with Ms. Gaga and the medical associations to persuade doctors to join the NSS. If we do not manage to convince them, the mobilization will start on Monday, first in Northern Greece where we receive more pressure and wherever there are needs elsewhere. We have already added beds from the private sector, in Thessaloniki 300 – 310 beds for COVID and 150 to 170 for other treatments the same in Thessaly. In Athens there is already a consultation for extra clinics from the private sector. We have exceeded a total of 600 beds for COVID and non-COVID. All the ICUs of the private in principle for non-COVID treatments, are also at the disposal of the NSS “.
We started, the government spokesman continued, with about 577 ICU beds and reached 1277 thousands have been added to the health sector, the effort continues. We were one of the first countries to procure monoclonal drugs… The essential thing is to vaccinate people, to increase vaccination coverage.
Regarding the issue of the expiration of the vaccination certificate, he explained that it is a central decision, it is not only a matter of the Greek government, but a European one. “The discussion is real, we will discuss it with the other states,” he clarified.
For the schools, Giannis Oikonomou noted that the design that has been done has paid off with 80,000 departments operating, while less than 20 departments closed and reopened.
Foreign policy and Erdogan
The government spokesman stressed that in recent years the country has changed significantly in terms of its power and geopolitical footprint, citing strategic agreements with France and the US, the energy agreement with Egypt, and Mitsotakis initiatives on the environment and the European certificate for coronavirus. “We are ready to respond to any challenge, we have proved it in the past, there is determination but also calm,” the government spokesman said in the wake of Tayyip Erdogan’s new threats to open the Turkish border.
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