ATHENS — The retail sector is opening as of Monday (April 5) under restrictions, Deputy Civil Protection Minister for crisis management Nikos Hardalias announced during a live briefing on Wednesday.

He also announced that as of Saturday (April 3), families or up to 3 people will be able to travel by car for exercise or outdoor activities between municipalities, as long as they observe health measures, he said.

The coronavirus measures – treading a fine line between trying to contain a spike in infections and allowing people to go outdoors – were proposed, he said, by the Health Ministry's committee of experts, who recommended "adjustments to current measures".

As to the reopening of schools, no decision will be made before next week, he said.

Greece registered 3,616 new coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours, with 20 of these identified at entry points to the country, the National Public Health Organization (EODY) reported on Wednesday.

Greece has confirmed 263,689 infections from the start of the pandemic (daily change: +1.4 pct). In the confirmed cases of the last 7 days, 97 infections are related to travel from abroad and 2,511 to other confirmed cases.

There are also 76 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, bringing the total of pandemic victims to 8,093. Of these, 95.7 pct had an underlying condition and/or were 70 years old.

A total of 739 patients are on ventilators in hospitals. Their median age is 68 years and 82.9 pct have an underlying condition and/or are aged 70 or more. Another 1,701 have been discharged from ICUs since the pandemic began.

In addition, 479 Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospital in the last 24 hours (daily change of a +19.15 pct). The average admission of patients with Covid-19 to hospitals over the last 7 days was 431.

The median age of new infections is 44 years, while the median age of the deceased is 79.