ATHENS — Civil Protection Deputy Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias on Sunday expressed his personal conviction that "everything will turn out well, albeit gradually, and we shall regain the normality we have been deprived of for several months," speaking at the Thessaloniki International Airport on Sunday.

He was speaking after meeting with the medical teams that will be taking samples from the foreign nationals who will start arriving at Thessaloniki on Monday.

Referring to the competent level of preparedness of everyone involved, he said that "everything that needed to be done has been done," and "on Monday at 13:00 in the afternoon, we will receive the first flight from Munich after three months here at Thessaloniki's 'MAKEDONIA' Airport."

Reopening tourism in northern Greece is a matter of priority for the government, he added, and underlined that passengers who will be arriving there will not be immediately quarantined, as "we will take their samples and they will proceed to their destinations."

After Thessaloniki, Hardalias went to Halkidiki, where he met with local authorities' officials about fire-proofing the region against potential summer wildfires.

Earlier in the day Hardalias visited the Prespes municipality in northern Greece where he inaugurated a fire brigade station, in view of better protecting the region's forestry and one of Europe's most diverse ecosystems of flora and fauna, home to several endangered species of birds and other animals.