Kozani

There are 11 areas in Greece close to "red alert" status due to the rising rate of coronavirus infections and the government is considering tighter local lockdowns, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Wednesday.

Apart from the Western Attica regional unit, all others are in central and northern Greece.

As the Covid-19 pandemic is fading away in most parts of Europe, the continent is straining to revive its hard-hit economy - on a bumpy road, as economic forecasts indicated.
But signs showed that demands from China are cushioning the shock.

A wet front swept across much of the country on Wednesday, bringing heavy rainfall and thunderstorms to many parts including Volos and much of Magnesia.
Volos was particularly hard hit with three hours of torrential rain in the morning that flooded streets and squares.

A total of 3,309 speeding offenses and 62 violations regarding safety precautions for the transport of children were confirmed by traffic police during inspections conducted nationwide from May 4 to 10, the Hellenic Police (ELAS) said on Tuesday.
More specifically, a total of 17,320 vehicles were inspected by 957 traffic police units.

Greek authorities lifted on Monday the strict restrictions on movement for two mountainous villages in western Macedonia which had been placed on lockdown since March 16 due to a cluster of coronavirus deaths and infections.

Eleven snow ploughs were dispatched by municipal authorities in northern Greece to clear roads on and around Mount Hortiatis, which received more than 30 centimeters of snowfall overnight and on Thursday morning.

Three patients who were infected with the new coronavirus died in the past 12 hours, bringing Greece's death toll from the ongoing epidemic to 46.

A 79-year-old man died in the early hours of Tuesday at the Bodosakeio Hospital of Ptolemaida in the northern region Kozani, one of the harder hit parts of Greece.

One more person died in Greece on Friday from complications related to the novel coronavirus bringing the total number to seven, state-run news agency ANA-MPA reported.

The victim is an 85-year-old man with serious underlying health problems who was being treated at the Mamatsio Hospital in Kozani, northern Greece, the report said.

Two villages in western Macedonia were quarantined on Monday where authorities have recorded in the past few days three deaths from the new coronavirus and more than 10 infections, according to the General Secretariat of Civil Protection.

The villages, Damaskinia and Dragasia, are located between the towns of Kozani and Kastoria.

A fourth death from the coronavirus has been confirmed in Greece. The patient, a 53-year-old man, died early Sunday, in Thessaloniki. He had been rushed to the AHEPA hospital from the citiy of Kozani in critical condition Tuesday. He is the youngest fatality thus far, but like the other three, had a serious underlying disease.