THESSALONIKI — The Greek government has no immediate plan to further tighten restrictions related to the pandemic in Thessaloniki, Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said on Thursday, during a meeting with local officials Thessaloniki.

"We will observe the measures with commitment, respect and rigorousness," Citizen Protection Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis also said on Thursday after the meeting.

"Nikos Hardalias and I are here, by order of the Prime Minister, and we are here for reasons of necessity. Thessaloniki managed with difficulty, in November 2020, to overcome the problem. And we are here today in order to avoid a similar situation. The virus has a friend, an ally, which is the congestion. Please, follow the rules", the minister underlined.

He also said that he understands that there is fatigue, but stressed that the government is on everyone's side with its policies, with the support of businesses, the unemployed and all those who are suffering because of the pandemic.

Nikos Hardalias earlier visited the COVID-19 vaccination centre that is being set up at the two largest pavilions (13 and 15) of TIF-Helexpo in Thessaloniki.

The minister inspected the works in the area which is expected to be ready at approximately 15 days while it will probably operate at the end of February.

According to sources, the TIF vaccination centre will offer 108 vaccination points and will be staffed by military doctors. It is expected that, according to the same sources, 432 vaccination will be held every hour, 6.048 daily and 157,248 every month.

Tzitzikostas: We must observe health protection measures

"We must all fathfully observe the health protection measures in order to avoid taking new painful restrictive measures, which this time I am afraid will have a devastating effect on the economy," the governor of Central Macedonia, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, said on Thursday after the meeting with Chrysochoidis, Hardalias and local authorities and bodies.

"We all agreed that we will proceed to the further intensification of the control mechanisms in order to ensure that we will do our best and at the same time we discussed how we will be able to try together to reduce new coronavirus cases in this difficult situation that the country and of course our region is facing," Tzitzikostas said.

"At the same time," he noted, "we agreed on the further continuation of the cooperation we already have with the hospitals, but also with the representatives of the real economy, who have really been tested."

On his part, the mayor of Thessaloniki Konstantinos Zervas stressed the need to deal with the pandemic "in a direct and smart way" and with "very good reflexes". "At the moment we are not taking additional measures, but this is something we should monitor every day," the mayor noted.

Greece’s second biggest city has seen a rise in infections in recent days.