MADRID – Twenty Greek Erasmus+ students are stuck in Spain due to the banning of flights between the two countries, Foreign Affairs Minister Nikos Dendias was urgently informed on Monday.

Ioannina University Rector Triantafylllos Albanis told Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA-MPA) that he had informed the minister. Albanis clarified that the students, who enrolled on the exchange program from various departments nationwide, went to Spain on their own accord, “despite several warnings against it by both Ioannina University and the Erasmus program itself.” Most left in January and February, while 3 or 4 left early in March, he said.

Regarding coronavirus infections and the university’s measures to control the disease’s spread, Albanis said that there were only two official coronavirus cases in Epirus to date. Otherwise, “there is a small number of students who have not left the Ioannina area and are staying in the student halls of residence. We care about the living conditions of these students,” he said, adding his concern that “the University Hospital is right next door to the campus, so we also are trying to set up a laboratory for sample diagnostics for coronavirus in Ioannina proper, to save time.”