Vassilios

Greek Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias will be in Brussels on Thursday to participate in an extraordinary EU ministers meeting to discuss the bloc's preparedness to tackle a possible coronavirus outbreak.

Health workers are using infrared thermometers at Athens' International Airport to check the temperature of tourists arriving with direct flights from China for possible coronavirus infections.

Authorities are also distributing leaflets with all the necessary information on Greek health services in Chinese and have posted posters in arrivals and departures at the airport.

The government is stepping up measures to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading in Greece.

After a meeting of the National Council of Public Health overseen by Health Minister Vasilis Kikilias on Monday, it was announced that the government will hire additional staff to reinforce medical laboratories, state hospitals and entry points to the country.

Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias will be chairing a meeting of Greece's National Council for Public Health (ESYD) on Monday to discuss the country's preparations to shield itself from the deadly new coronavirus that made its appearance in China last month.

The Chinese Ambassador to Greece, Zhang Qiyue, on Monday briefed Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias on the measures assumed in China to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Ravaged by months-long bushfires, Australia is "going through the hardest period of its history," the president of the Greek Community of Melbourne said on Tuesday.

The government is currently drafting a joint ministerial decision ensuring stricter fines for violations of the anti-smoking law which will officially go into effect on November 19.
The fines currently in place were introduced a decade ago when the first anti-smoking legislation was passed into law and are not considered tough enough by authorities.

Health Minister Vasilis Kikilias announced Thursday that 800 doctors will be hired to work at public hospitals around the country.
Speaking to Antenna TV, Kikilias said the positions are for doctors with a license to practice from 2011-12 onward.

Government spokesman Stelios Petsas has condemned a Friday attack on the political office of Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias by four self-professed members of the Rouvikonas (Greek for Rubicon) anti-establishment group.

Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias took to Twitter on Friday to respond to an attack on his political office in downtown Athens earlier in the day by four self-professed members of the Rouvikonas anarchist group.