New restrictions in Greece amid surge in virus cases

(3 Nov 2020) For the first time since May, Greece on Tuesday shut restaurants, bars, cafes, cinemas and gyms across a great part of the country, including Athens, after a surge in coronavirus cases. The announcement made over the weekend by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis included a nationwide curfew from midnight to 5am and the compulsory wearing of masks outdoors across the country. Dealing with the lockdown is nothing new for Sakis Isuru, 21, who now works at a restaurant in Athen's Monastiraki square. During the previous lockdown he worked at a bar but lost his job when the business was forced to reduce employees after reopening with a mandatory reduction in seating capacity. "I don't know how it's going to happen," Isuru said. "Maybe they're going to close us until next year. We're going to see. But still it's going to be a pretty bad situation." Museums will also remain shut, leaving out-of-town visitors disappointed. Open-air archaeological sites remain open. Residents in Greece’s second largest city, Thessaloniki, and the neighboring northern province of Serres, can only leave their homes for specific reasons and after notifying authorities by SMS. Non-essential domestic and international flights to Thessaloniki have been cancelled and retail stores, restaurants, gyms, churches and entertainment venues have been ordered to shut for the two-week lockdown that came into effect at 6 a.m.. Lighter restrictions came into effect in the Greek capital, Athens, where restaurants, bars, cafes, gyms, museums and entertainment venues shut down for two weeks. Only individual sports are allowed outdoors. Greece has taken a regionalized approach to tackling outbreaks, imposing more severe restrictions on areas with big surges while allowing other regions to remain fully open. The country imposed a lockdown early on in the pandemic’s initial phase in the spring, a move that was credited with maintaining cases and deaths low. But infections, deaths and those seriously ill have surged in recent weeks. Sixty percent of the country’s intensive care beds dedicated to the care of COVID-19 patients are now occupied. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...