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The thoughts of lifting the closure on December 1 have been definitively abandoned and now the government, following epidemiological data, is moving towards the gradual opening of elementary schools, retail and restaurants.
According to the information, government planning is to open restaurants and cafes from December 19 to 21, that is, Christmas Eve.
At this time, the health system is under a lot of pressure and that is why the government has dropped all the weight there, with discussions and decisions to lift the measures that are postponed until the end of next week. The information indicates that the estimates that the government has, of the committee of experts, for a possible flattening of the curve in the cases will lead to a proposal and gradual lifting of the measures. However, it is noted that to start the debate on the progressive opening of primary schools, commerce and restaurants, the measures must be observed these days with the greatest reverence. Only then will the cases be reduced and the health system will be able to “breathe”.
The lifting of the measures in three phases
If the government’s planning works properly, the prime minister will have a meeting with the infectious diseases committee at the end of next week and then the next steps will be decided, which will be in three phases. According to the plan, the priority for the government is the opening of primary schools (at the moment there is no data on secondary schools and high schools), followed by retail and immediately after catering.
It is recalled that on Wednesday the government spokesman Stelios Petsas, referring to the lifting of the measures, had said that “the planning is expected to resemble the opening of May, that is, in three phases. “First schools, then retail, then catering.”
Opening of restaurants and cafes on Christmas Eve
On Saturday, December 19 or Monday, December 21 – and if coronavirus cases are reduced and the health system works without pressure – the restaurant is expected to receive the green light to start operating again in anticipation of the Christmas holidays.
However, it should be noted that health stores will open only with seated people. That is to say, restaurants and cafes, and not bars and discos, because there they meet upright and create synchronicity.
Christmas this year will be different
However, it is taken for granted that the Christmas holidays will be different from the ones citizens are used to, something that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said in his conversation with the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou: “I have said many times that celebrating Christmas with ours, in a context that will surely be different from the usual Christmas, but which will not be a universal prohibition, depends above all on ourselves. “As long as we adhere and continue to adhere to basic protection measures, it is absolutely certain that the cases will be reduced and the pressure on the National Health System will not be such that it forces us to permanently operate in the red, as is essentially the case now. “.
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