The Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis in his introductory remarks to the council of ministers, speaking about the Coronavirus, he stressed that:
“Concerning protection of Public Health, the plan of the Ministry of Health, which we have approved, is already underway.
As you know, there have already been two cases in Thessaloniki that are being dealt with, and a third case that has just been announced in Athens. Other suspicious cases are still under investigation, although, for most of them, preliminary results are negative.
I want to stress the importance of personal responsibility for all of us, both in terms of personal hygiene and behavior when a person shows symptoms. The instructions given by the Ministry of Health and the National Public Health Organization must be followed strictly. Panic is always the biggest opponent in such circumstances.
At the same time, we are obliged to take all necessary measures to prevent, as effectively as possible, further spreading of the virus. I have just been informed that the Minister of Health has endorsed the recommendation from the competent committee to suspend all carnival events in the country and we will proceed immediately to signing a Joint Ministerial Decision on that.
As government, of course, we are also developing actions for the side-effects of an international phenomenon.
On this point, I should stress that migration is now taking on a new dimension, as flows to Greece include people from Iran – where we have had many cases of Coronavirus – and many people from Afghanistan passing through Iran. Our islands, therefore, already concerned by public health issues need to be double protected, to be secured. To put it simply, we do what we can to prevent any spread of the virus there.
Therefore, our country will apply the European Commission Regulation 2016/399, and in particular paragraph 6, about prevention control on threats to public health.
What this means in practice: That we are upgrading our border control to the maximum possible degree. To this end, I have already instructed the Minister of Merchant Marine and the Head of the Port Authority to significantly increase the number of vessels and the number of patrols to the islands of the Eastern Aegean.
And, of course under international law, we will increase controls both at sea and on land.
I have already informed the European Commission of this decision, which should see this decision as a measure to protect public health in Europe as a whole. We’ll proceed likewise with Turkey. An international campaign is also being launched in the languages of ethnic groups heading to Greece, warning that the country can no longer accept illegal entries. These announcements will be published online as well as in the countries of origin of the migration flows”.
