ATHENS — State Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis referred to the "new weapons against the pandemic, the vaccinations and the self tests," while speaking to radio "Thema 104.6 FM" on Thursday. Regarding self tests, he underlined the double benefits from their use on pupils, both in terms of controlling the pandemic and allowing children to return to their normal environment.

On the majority (rather than unanimous) decision reached by the scientists' committee, he noted that the existence of a majority and minority within a collective body "was the rule" and that the government encouraged the members of the committee to have indepence and sound judgement.

Gerapetritis noted that "since we gave some people some respite, whether this involved intermunicipal movements at the weekend or the controlled reopening of the retail market, I believe that people are calmer. To be outside is not bad. On the contrary, now that the weather has improved we want the people to be free to move and spread out in order to avoid major congestion and not to crowd together in houses and bars."

Asked if any further major decisions for the lifting of the restrictions are postponed until after the Easter holidays, the minister said that "at this moment, there does not appear to be anything that could open before Easter. We clearly have a lot of time before Easter, we have three weeks to see what else there might be. The opening of primary and high schools as well as the opening of restaurants and similar businesses is posponed until after Easter."

Allowing movement between regions during the Easter holidays was one possibility, Gerapetritis said, but this decision will be taken shortly before Holy Week, based on the epidemiological data and the recommendations of the experts.