ATHENS – Now that the lockdown measures are cautiously and gradually being rolled back, "we are all responsible for our behavior in public, because we will be leaving home more often," Civil Protection Deputy Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias said on Wednesday.

"Leaving home to go out will be more difficult than staying home," he warned, as the public has to be more vigilant and follow the basic rules of hygiene and social distancing.

During the daily briefing, Hardalias spoke of "the day after" lockdown, reminding the public that until Monday, May 4, the public had to observe the current measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The messaging service would continue and excursions of groups to the outdoors banned, as is travel to the holiday homes over the weekend.

Hardalias also repeated that facial covering or masks will be obligatory as of Monday on public transportation, at stores serving customers (both staff and clientele), at supermarkets and food providers, at beauty centers and hairdressers, in taxis, and at hospitals and doctors' offices.

Details for use of masks will be shortly available through the site of the National Public Health Organization (EODY), he stressed.

Among other issues, Hardalias said that the Public Power Corporation Unit 5 at Ptolemaida, northern Greece, would remain shut until May 17. All arrivals from abroad are checked at the airport continually, and of 514 passengers who arrived in the last two days on 6 flights, 9 people tested positive to the virus. The rest are allowed to quarantine at home, he said.

"Let us show responsibility and care for the common good," so there is no reintroduction of measures, he urged, of the gradually relaxing restriction measures.