XANTHI, Greece — A broad meeting regarding a recent cluster of Covid-19 cases in Xanthi was held on Friday, with the participation of Deputy Civil Protection and Crises Management Minister Nikos Hardalias, the Health Ministry's representative for the coronavirus Professor Sotiris Tsiodras, the Civil Protection General Secretariat first response team and a National Public Health Organisation team that were flown in by a superpuma helicopter earlier the same morning.

The meeting was also attended by the regional governor of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace Christos Metios, all the mayors of the region, as well as the agencies involved. They had a detailed discussion on the implementation of the restrictions to contain Covid-19 agreed on Thursday night by the Civil Protection General Secretariat.

As was noted, informing the public was of crucial importance as they must be persuaded, especially young people that question the seriousness of the situation.

Tsiodras underlined the need for continued strict implementation of the measures, stressing "we made a huge effort and it should not go to waste".

Hardalias said that the effort should be intense and coordinated for the next seven days and, when the measures have been strictly followed, the situation will be re-evaluated and a new decision will be taken.

The National Public Health Organisation has already started sweeping tests for the virus, which will intensify on Saturday and also involve the army, in order to completely map the epidemic.