Greek health authorities announced 1,428 new cases of the coronavirus for the 24-hour period ending 3 p.m. Sunday, as well as 51 deaths.
NEWS
![[INTIME]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Gym-320x200.png)
Gyms could open again on Monday, May 17, if there is no spike in infections, Development and Investment Minister Adonis Georgiadis said Sunday.
![The warm weather sent hundreds of Athenians to the city’s public beaches, as private beaches also opened for the first time this year, on Saturday. [InTime News]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/beach_intime-320x200.jpg)
The Health Ministry’s daily bulletin on the course of the coronavirus epidemic in Greece showed signs that the numbers are starting to drop, though they remain in high territory given the duration of restrictive measures that are only now starting to be relaxed.
![People make their way to a beach, in the Alimos suburb, southwest of Athens, Saturday. Beaches run by a private concession reopened Saturday, a week ahead of the official launch of the tourism season. [AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/alimos2_AP-320x200.jpg)
With widely spaced sun loungers and regular disinfections, Greece reopened its organized beaches on Saturday as the popular Mediterranean holiday destination eases Covid-19 curbs in preparation for the return of foreign visitors next week.
Radio conversations between Fire Service officials and firemen on the evening of the 2018 east Attica wildfires included in the case file compiled by the judicial authorities indicate that the SYRIZA government at the time was aware of the first casualties before a meeting convened at the Civil Protection Agency’s operations center under then prime minister Alexis Tsipras later in the night.
![[Reuters]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/sputnik_vaccine_reuters-1-320x200.jpg)
The European Union is sceptical about the usefulness of waiving patent rights to Covid-19 vaccines as a way to fight the pandemic, but is ready to discuss a concrete proposal, the chairman of EU leaders Charles Michel said on Saturday. Speaking to reporters before the second day of an EU summit in the Portuguese city […]
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan revealed on Friday that he was concerned about the good relations developing between Greece and Egypt in recent years.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Saturday accused Greece of seeking to cancel the country’s 2019 maritime demarcation accord with Libya in the eastern Mediterranean.
An Athens prosecutor on Friday ordered an investigation into claims by the Union of Judges and Prosecutors of online harassment.
Greek pharmaceutical firms’ executives share Germany’s skepticism as to whether waiving vaccine patents will help produce more, and cheaper, doses in a bid to defeat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Museums in Greece will reopen to visitors next week, a day before the official start of the tourism season on May 15, authorities said on Friday.
An environmental protection group is seeking to prevent a 20-million-euro flood-prevention project in eastern Attica it says is a threat to the Natura 200-protected Vravrona wetland.
![[InTime News]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/exams-generic_intime-320x200.jpg)
The first round of the government’s new written citizenship exams is scheduled to take place on May 16, with attendance appearing lackluster with just 2,448 registered participants from around 30,000 pending citizenship applications.
![Street musician Roberto Selfos of Albania plays his clarinet as people wearing face masks to prevent the spread of coronavirus, shop at an open-air fruit and vegetable market in Athens, Friday, May 7, 2021. [Thanassis Stavrakis/AP]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Athens-street-reuters-320x200.jpg)
Greece is about to quickly move toward loosening lockdown restrictions, helped by what officials called a gradual de-escalation of the coronavirus pandemic.
A 36-year-old woman accused of a vicious acid attack against a perceived romantic rival will stand trial for attempted murder, a judicial council ruled on Friday.
![The 22-year-old suspect covers his features as he is escorted from Athens’ main courthouse by plainclothes police and his lawyer after being arraigned on Friday afternoon. [InTime News]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/eflasher-evelpidon-intime-320x200.jpg)
Police in Athens on Friday arrested a 22-year-old man who has been accused by at least four women of sexual harassment and indecent exposure.
![Heads of State and Government attend the opening ceremony of an EU summit at the Alfandega do Porto Congress Center in Porto, Portugal May 7, 2021. [Luis Vieira/Pool via Reuters]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/EU_leaders_portugal-320x200.jpg)
European Union leaders and their large following of diplomats and advisers met Friday in Portugal for two days of in-person talks, signaling their belief that the threat from Covid-19 on the continent is waning amid a quickening vaccine rollout.
![[Intime News]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/open-air_theatre_intime-320x200.jpg)
The government heralded further loosening of lockdown restrictions on Friday, announcing the reopening museums, open-air cinemas and theaters later this month, as the country gears up for the tourism season.
New coronavirus infections in Greece fell to 2,691 on Friday from 3,421 on Thursday, bringing the total number of infections since the start of the pandemic to 358,116.
A Greek far-right member of the European Parliament arrested last month in Belgium can be extradited to Greece to serve a 13-year prison sentence, the Brussels prosecutor’s office said Friday.
![A vial of the AstraZeneca vaccine [Carlos Osorio/Reuters]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AstraZeneca_vacine_reuters-320x200.jpg)
Europe’s medicines regulator said on Friday it was reviewing reports of a rare condition affecting the nerves following vaccination with AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shot, and requested the British drugmaker for more detailed data.
![[EPA/ SHI ZH]](https://www.ekathimerini.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/covid-INT22331881-EPA-SHI-ZH-1-320x200.jpg)
The European Medicines Agency says it has begun an accelerated authorization process for an experimental coronavirus treatment made by GlaxoSmithKline and Vir BioTechnology.
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