Greece officials confirmed 2,972 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours in the country, with 19 of these identified at entry points. The COVID situation and fears of a fourth wave have tourism officials scared the season will be a total bust.
The National Public Health Organization (EODY) added that there were also three fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total of pandemic victims to 12,870. Of these, 95.1 pct had an underlying condition and/or were aged 70 or over.
Meanwhile, Greek police fired tear gas and water canon to disperse crowds protesting against coronavirus vaccinations in Athens on Wednesday. Some 1,500 people took part in the protest outside parliament, the second in a week against Greece’s COVID-19 inoculation drive.
The situation has put Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the hot seat since he wanted to preside over a positive tourism season and an improvement over last year’s receipts disaster. CNBC cited Wolfango Piccoli, co-president of risk consultancy Teneo Intelligence discussing the difficulties the center-right politician faces.
All over Europe, the tourism industry is on the line as uncertainty continues to prevail. Worries over the highly contagious delta variant have prompted a plethora of varying rules and restrictions, traffic-light systems designating country risk profiles, and a maze of possible quarantines and vaccine entry requirements.