The Greek government on Wednesday announced even stricter restrictions on the non-essential movement outdoors, in a bid to prevent any surge in coronavirus infections ahead of the forthcoming Easter Holy Week in the predominately Christian Orthodox country, a period annually characterized by a mass exodus of city-dwellers to the rural provinces and islands and the peak of church attendance.
Easter Sunday in Greece is on April 19, in line with the Orthodox liturgical calendar.
A relevant civil protection deputy minister said only state service personnel (law enforcement, military, healthcare professionals, civil protection, utility workers etc) will be allowed to travel to and from the provinces until at least April 27. Civil defense chief Nikos Hardalias added that checkpoints will be set up on all tollways and provincial roads to enforce the measure.
Additionally, fines for non-essential movement were doubled, to 300 euros, along with the removal of license plates for two months and a return of the offending party to their base.
The same regime includes travel by bus, train, ship and airplane.
People that travel to their homes in the provinces or islands, assuming they are permanent residents there, as per the address listed on their tax returns, will not be able to return to major cities until the restrictions end, April 27.
The extended and increasingly Draconian measure ostensibly aim to prevent a surge in Covid-19 exposure on the scale witnessed by Italy, Spain, and to a lesser extent, neighboring Turkey, as both fatalities and confirmed instances of infections in Greece are hovering at the low end of the pandemic for European countries.
