Filenews 4 January 2022 - by Marilena Panagi
Restrictions are coming on all gatherings and this time it should be taken for granted that both places of worship (churches) and restaurants will be affected, as well as the allowed number of people (in addition to residents) per house in view of the celebration of Epiphany. A further reduction in the number of people allowed per gathering will not exclude places for which restrictions have been imposed since the previous week, such as nightclubs and social events such as weddings, christenings and other receptions.
In the thoughts of the Ministry of Health and the alternative scenario of imposing restrictions on the movement of citizens without closing the economy, although as reported by "F", this measure may not be implemented from this week and remain as an option for the Government and scientists for a later stage, if the epidemiological situation deteriorates even more and it is deemed necessary to further tighten the measures.
The Ministry of Health was working feverishly yesterday to draw up the final list of recommendations that will be put before the members of the Advisory Scientific Committee today, which may also proceed to additional recommendations which, if necessary, will be incorporated in the list that the Minister of Health Michalis Hadjipantelas will present tomorrow to the Council of Ministers for approval.
The extension of the education holidays does not seem to be part of the intentions of the Minister of Health and his close associates nor of most members of the TEU who consider that since the government's intention is to avoid the closure of the economy, the operation of schools should not be under discussion. . Yesterday, of course, some of the scientists publicly supported this measure, which seems to be supported by both educational organisations and paediatricians. On the part of the Government, however, other factors seem to be taken into account, such as, for example, the compulsory absence of parents from work for the purpose of caring for their children, which, among other things, entails the payment of benefits.
Thus, for schools, the proposal that seems to be being preferred at the moment, includes an increase in the tests that students undergo per week and perhaps a tightening of the protocols, but nothing definitive has been decided since everything will be judged tomorrow in the Council of Ministers.
The extension of the self-test program for the vaccinated should be taken for granted, while as we are informed, the possibility of extending self-tests to education for students, teachers, administrative and other staff is also being considered.
In addition, considerations seem to be being made to limit the list of services defined as "essential" through the decrees and excluded from teleworking (now set at 50%), as it is found that the existing list reduces the effectiveness of the measure.
However, Health Minister Michalis Hadjipantelas in his statements yesterday refrained from taking a position on what is being studied by the Ministry of Health. "I will wait to hear the experts first before I take a position on the measures that may be decided on Wednesday by the Cabinet," he said.
As far as the possibility of a lockdown is concerned, the Minister appeared rather negative about such a prospect, but referred again to the members of the Advisory Scientific Committee. "The intentions of the experts as far as I know do not include this possibility," the health minister said, adding: "but again I will say that I want to hear them again tomorrow (today) and then take a position. But I think most people think it's a measure that won't help us at this particular time."
On the extension of the self-test program, the Minister of Health said that "the implementation of this program was made on the recommendation of one of the scientists (Chr. Peter) and as we see has been a great success. We need to listen to the scientists again and certainly if they tell us that this programme should be continued or expanded, the Ministry of Health will implement their recommendation again.
For the protests of the owners of nightclubs, Michalis Hadjipandelas suggested that "we are taking measures aimed at reducing the spread of the virus in the community. We have taken the mildest measures in relation to these areas, from all the other countries of Europe. Since our data shows chains that arise from these spaces and we aim to reduce the dispersion, we could not bypass the recommendations of experts."
Mandatory electronic information
Due to the increased number of tests that result in the detection of a large number of positive cases, the Ministry of Health announced yesterday that "all confirmed cases must now compulsorily fill out an electronic form to better serve them and facilitate the tracing process".
It is recalled that, "citizens receive the day after their diagnosis a text message on the mobile phone they declared during their sampling.
The message contains a link with passwords to confirm their details, to declare their contacts and their personal doctor, so that he can monitor and release them, and to be able to issue the necessary release certificates at the end of their self-isolation period."
Stacked again for a vaccine
Overcrowding was also observed yesterday in the vaccination centres and mainly in the centres which operated from morning until 2pm for people who had arranged appointments through the Vaccination Portal and from 2:30pm onwards for those people who went for vaccination with the process of free attendance.
Overcrowding and queues and at the free sampling points of the ministry of health, where thousands of citizens and mainly employees who have to present a negative test at work have come to be tested.
In his statements to "F", the Minister of Health, implicitly but clearly referred to problems created in the staffing of the centres, either vaccination or for sampling, saying characteristically "I want to mention again that at the moment we have a huge spread of the virus in our society. I want to say again that both our nurses and doctors are people, they can be cases, they can be contacts, they have a family, they may be sick. Sometimes there are incidents that we cannot predict and that's why there is overcrowding and this overcrowding prevails everywhere and with the situation we are in now, contingencies arise which I believe that in the coming days we will find the way to deal with them.
