ATHENS – After Chinese tourists arriving from a city where the deadly Coronavirus broke out were allowed to go to the island of Santorini, Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias says Greece’s health system is ready to cope if there’s an outbreak of the illness.

“We cannot exclude a coronavirus case in our country; howevwe, we are ready to cope with such a case and break the transmission chain,” Kikilias told TV station SKAI. Chinese tourists have been flocking to Greece in big numbers the past few years.

Greece has for now suspended its visa office in China to keep out any more and now every hospital in Greece has received instructions on how to deal with a coronavirus case, Kikilias added about measures being taken.

He said that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has been briefed and if a case is reported that the public will be notified immediately, unlike in China where whistleblowers said the government tried to hide and then downplay the spread of the virus.

The new measures came as 21 people have died from the flu in Greece so far, also said Kikilias.