Nikos Hardalias

Fears that the holiday spirit will prove stronger than fears of the coronavirus are expected to prompt the announcement of hard regional lockdowns in parts of the country that are struggling to contain the second wave of the pandemic.

Greek authorities on Friday decided to increase random testing for coronavirus in west Attica and intensify checks for compliance with the health measures as the viral load in the area remained high.

Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said at the daily briefing on the coronavirus that west Attica had over 300 active coronavirus cases.

Google's roundup of the year's most searched terms is out and unsurprisingly shows that the coronavirus was the top news topic of the last 12 months.

The findings are the result of Google's Year In Search, which also provides statistics on individual categories ranging from news and sporting events to recipes and dead celebrities.

Anyone arriving at Greece's land borders who test positive for the novel coronavirus will not be allowed to enter the country, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias announced on Friday.

Speaking during a regular press briefing on the developments with the pandemic, Hardalias also said that authorities will ban visits to the monasteries of Mount Athos.

Mobile units of the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) will conduct rapid antigen tests in large industrial units in the northern regions of Xanthi, Drama, Pella, Florina, Pieria and Imathia in the coming days, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.

Authorities and health experts are closely monitoring the course of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic as it unfolds around the country with increasing concern, both in terms of the suffocating pressure it is exerting on the National Health System and its dynamics in areas outside major urban centers, such as Pella, Pieria, Grevena, Drama and Serres in northern Greece.

Amid an upward trend in coronavirus infections, Greek health authorities Friday announced new restrictions aimed at curbing the virus' spread while Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis appealed to young people to show greater caution following reports of overcrowding at nightclubs and concerts.

Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias is expected to announce curfews on the popular islands of Spetses, Paros and Antiparos, in an effort to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to a Greek news website on Friday.

In an apparent bid to underline the government's determination to contain any localized outbreaks of the coronavirus following a recent spike in cases, Deputy Minister for Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias and the government's special adviser on the coronavirus crisis, epidemiologist Sotiris Tsiodras, traveled on Friday to the northern Greek regional unit of Xanthi with a team from the National

Deputy Minister for Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias and the government's special adviser on the coronavirus crisis, Sotiris Tsiodras, were traveling to the northern Greek region of Xanthi on Friday with a team from the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) following an outbreak of Covid-19 cases.