ATHENS — Government spokesperson Stelios Petsas spoke about the prospect of lifting the current lockdown to MEGA TV on Wednesday, repeating decisions will be led by the data, not by dates.

Even though the figures in the last days indicate a stabilisation and a gradual reduction of the levels of the pandemic, he added, "we need more time…and as long as we need more time, we move away from December 7," as the day for a gradual lifting of the lockdown. This was now moved to a later date, he explained, adding that: "How much later and on what date the gradual phases will begin will be decided by the end of this week, when the government will make announcements."

Regarding vaccines and their expected arrival in Greece, he said that "we always said that as soon as they are approved by the organisations responsible, we will be ready to start and we set this date at the end of December or early January, so we are are on schedule".

Finally, he reiterated that the development of a Greek rapid test was a "huge success".