ATHENS – The Health Ministry on Friday announced one more case of COVID19 in the country, raising the number of patients taken ill with the virus to four.

The patient is a Greek woman aged 36, who had recently travelled to one of the virus-stricken regions in Italy and developed mild symptoms after her return.

She is described as being in relatively good condition and remains in an isolation warm at the Attiko Hospital. The case was diagnosed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School’s Microbiology Laboratory.

Additionally, the blood samples of seven people that recently arrived from Italy and were examined at AHEPA hospital in Thessaloniki were negative for coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Friday.

Education ministry closes eight Attica schools for possible exposure to coronavirus

Eight state schools in the Attica area will remain closed as a precaution on Friday, by orders of the education ministry, over concerns that members of these school communities may have come into contact with a coronavirus carrier.

They include the 4th General Vocational Lyceum in Haidari, the 4th Highschool in Haidari, the 11th Peristeri Lyceum, the 1st Experimental Athens Lyceum, the 1st Glyfada Highschool, the 1st Glyfada General Vocational Lyceum, the 19th Peristeri Kindergarten and the 5th Peristeri Primary School.

Greek schools educational trips abroad suspended

Health ministry spokesperson Sotiris Tsiodras on Friday announced the suspension of all educational trips abroad programmed by Greek schools due to the coronavirus.

He explained that they reached this decision because it was very difficult to track down the pupils’ contacts abroad.

Tsiodras said that the suspension of social events and mass gatherings is not imperative for the time being, while carnival events throughout the country were cancelled for clearly epidemiological reasons. “The mass gathering would greatly favour factors for transmitting the coronavirus, spread thoughout the country,” he said.

“The disease appears in more and more countries every day and people are preparing for the following day,” he said, noting that there were incidents in regions where there was no clear source for the virus’ origin.

Finally, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias referred to the vulnerable population groups that are most affected by the virus. He said that the virus affects elderly patients with chronic ailments and that it is imperative to protect them.

Athens College pupils return to Greece on charter flight

Athens College pupils that were on an educational trip to London, among them the daughter of a 40-year-old woman that tested positive for COVID-19 and is being treated at Attikon hospital, are returning to Greece on a charter flight arranged by Athens College, the health ministry announced on Friday.

Greek drug industry says COVID-19 supplies are adequate

The heads of Greece’s pharmaceuticals industry on Thursday evening assured the Minister of Health Vasilis Kikilias that there are adequate supplies of medicines required to deal with a potential outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19.

Regarding the sufficiency of expendable supplies like face masks, which are reportedly becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, ministry officials said that a facemasks factory in northern Greece has been instructed to halt exporting the product and instead push these exclusively into the domestic market.

It was also noted that China, one of the biggest manufacturers of face masks, has temporarily stopped exporting them.