Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis used a live primetime newscast on Monday evening to detail his center-right government’s next moves in dealing with the still menacing Covid-19 pandemic, including a mechanism for vaccinations once vaccines arrive in the country.
Mitsotakis said the government and its team of public health experts were not satisfied with the rate of reduction in the number of confirmed day-to-day infections, now four weeks into a partial nationwide lockdown. He also admitted that the country’s public healthcare system is under pressure, especially in northern Greece.
In a somewhat apologetic tone, he said a lockdown should have been ordered earlier for the greater Thessaloniki region and northern Greece, although, at the same, qualified that no such recommendation was made.
In a bid to preclude any “third wave” of the pandemic, Mitsotakis advised for a Christmas spent with one’s family, and at most nine people.
He also echoed the statements of his government spokesman earlier in the day, namely, that schools and eateries will not open for dining, while travel from one region to another will be prohibited.
Even worse, Mitsotakis said unless a mass vaccination program is undertaken early in 2021, then bars and night-time entertainment may have to wait until Easter to open.
Asked about a particularly high-profile instance when he was photographed and videotaped, along with his wife, mountain biking two weeks ago in a forest due north of Athens and without masks, Mitsotakis said it was “… a mistake that I allowed myself to be photographed without a mask; not that I was riding a bike…I raise the bar of expectations high; I’ll do my self-criticism, and I have. This (incident) gave me the opportunity to think of how important it is to set a personal example for the citizens. I was also annoyed that this I was annoyed that a carefree moment was exaggerated to such an extent.”
The political opposition in the country, especially radical SYRIZA, the left-leading media and a portion of social media users, sharply criticized Mitsotakis for the bike ride, claiming a double standard for the prime ministerial couple and ordinary citizens.
Most of the mainstream media in the country downplayed or ignored the instance.
Finally, he flatly denied press claims, made by two newspapers, of the government keeping two sets of books in terms of Covid-19 figures.
