ATHENS — "The opening of the market, which is a priority of the government, must be accompanied by rules, with no shortcuts allowed for anyone," Deputy Minister of Civil Protection and Crisis Management, Nikos Hardalias, said on Tuesday addressing the members of the Municipal Police of Thessaloniki, while informing them how to carry out inspections in businesses bound by health safety and hygiene rules.

"Your job is to help, with your recommendations, with the kindness that you have and have proven all this time, to help the entrepreneurs open their stores on terms that will protect public health," he told them, adding that in extreme cases the state will enforce the law and give the message that everyone must respect hygiene rules.

He stressed that "the main goal is to gradually open up the market, step by step, so that businesses can operate but at the same time not endanger public health."

According to him, the protection of vulnerable groups is still the goal and "the virus may be in decline, but it remains in our neighborhoods, in our cities, in our villages, everywhere."