Greece’s Primary Health Care Services Secretary-General Marios Themistocleous announced this past weekend that everyone over 50, whether with underlying conditions (Levels 1, 2) or not, will be able to set online appointments for the third dose of the vaccination against Covid-19. He also said the two prioritized groups number nearly 100,000 people.
Yesterday, the EODY reported another 2,249 new Covid-19 infections and 30 fatalities over the most recent 24 hour period. There were 27 new cases reported here in Heraklion, which puts the case incidence level at only 8.84 per 100,000 residents, the lowest of any major city in Greece. Mykonos Island, which at one point led all Greek destinations in occurrences per capita, is now down to 39.47 per 100,000.
Greece’s privatisations agency transferred shares equalling a 16% stake in Piraeus Port Authority to Chinese port operator COSCO Shipping after an amendment to a previous concession agreement. Greek lawmakers amended a deal with COSCO last month which allows the Chinese investors to raise the stake in Greece’s biggest port of Piraeus, paving the way for Greece to secure a major investment. The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) said it transferred the shares on the Athens stock Exchange.
On fire ravaged Evia Island, crews of workers heap burnt pine trees into wooden flood barriers in anticipation of the coming seasonal rains. The workers are racing to shore up the island’s flood defenses of coastal villages because lost vegetation no longer provides an absorptive barrier. Rivers are sure to overflow their banks when the rains come, putting these seaside villages in harm’s way. Some 300,000 acres of forest and brushland were burnt in different parts of Greece this past summer, amid the country’s worst heatwave in 30 years.