MacroPolis

With the holiday season drawing to a close amid a surge in coronavirus infections, opening schools has become the latest challenge for the government in Athens.

Greek authorities are said to have set a milestone this Friday to decide whether additional measures will be required to halt a surge in Covid-19 cases related to travel during the peak of the holiday season.

Greek authorities are adopting yet more measures aimed at containing the coronavirus as part of their evolving response to the latest outbreak of the disease, which shows no signs of abating.

As new Covid-19 infections continue to emerge in Greece and concerns grow about the economic impact of the pandemic, SYRIZA has ramped up its criticism of the government on the healthcare front, as well as on the issues raised by the Pissarides report on economic reform.

As it scrambles to deal with the rising number of Covid-19 cases, the government has come under pressure for its handling of flash floods on the island of Evia over the weekend, which resulted in eight deaths.

The new, and promoted, members of Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s cabinet were sworn in on Wednesday after the first, and minimal, reshuffle since New Democracy came to power.

A steady rise in new Covid-19 cases has prompted the Greek government to intensify its warnings and tighten hygiene measures to bring infections back under control.

A committee of “wise men” chaired by Nobel laureate economist Sir Christopher Pissarides published on Monday its draft recommendations to the government for transforming the Greek economy.

The authorities are stepping up their efforts to encourage Greeks to take greater care not to spread the coronavirus after a significant rise in confirmed cases over the last few days.

The long-awaited decision on compensating pensioners for retirement pay cuts ruled unconstitutional by Greece’s highest administrative court was unveiled by PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis in Parliament on Wednesday.