NEWS

Greece starts widespread testing in Roma camp after outbreak

Greece starts widespread testing in Roma camp after outbreak

Greek health and civil protection authorities have launched an operation for widespread testing and contact tracing in an area in central Greece where an outbreak of coronavirus infections have been detected.

The civil protection authority said Wednesday that consecutive positive infections had been recorded in a Roma settlement in the central city of Larissa. Ten new confirmed infections were recorded on Tuesday, including seven people in the same family.

The local outbreak led authorities to implement a plan that will conduct widespread repeated testing in three phases, with the first tests on Wednesday, then repeated on the seventh day and on the 14th day.

Positive cases will lead to quarantines of city blocks or neighborhoods, or to people being transferred for quarantine in a medical center set up in the area for this purpose, the civil protection authority said.

Greece implemented a lockdown early on in its outbreak, a move which has been credited with keeping the number of coronavirus deaths low.

The country's death toll currently stands at 152, with 2,744 confirmed infections and 32 people hospitalized on respirators in intensive care units.

[AP]

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