Increased inspections to curb spread of coronavirus
Greece’s National Transparency Authority will oversee a government campaign to increase inspections aimed at ensuring that businesses like bars, restaurants and retail stores are complying with public health protocols designed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, following a spike in cases in recent days.
The General Secretariat of Commerce, the Hellenic Police, the Municipal Police, the Coast Guard and regional health departments are being rallied under the Transparency Authority’s umbrella to begin intensive inspections on businesses that come under their jurisdiction, the director of the authority, Angelos Binis, told Kathimerini.
The campaign will begin next week and will comprise unannounced spot checks on business and transportation modes on the Greek mainland as well as on the islands, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Binis said, adding that inspections will be intensified over the weekend to prevent overcrowding at bars and large parties.
In the meantime, the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) is launching a new and improved system for managing Passenger Locator Forms (PLF), which travelers coming into Greece are obliged to fill in prior to arrival so they can be traced in the event of exposure to a positive Covid-19 case.
The new system will allow EODY to send live alerts to its mobile health units, small and flexible teams of doctors and nurses who can be dispatched quickly to check on reports of infections and outbreaks.
There are currently 210 such units in different parts of the country, which have already carried out some 75,000 tests.
