ATHENS — "The lockdown will give us the opportunity to contain the number of cases of coronavirus," Deputy Health Minister Vassilis Kontozamanis said on Friday, speaking at the Thessaloniki Summit 2020, organised – digitally this year, due to a pandemic – by the Hellenic Industries Association, in collaboration with the Delphi Economic Forum.

Asked "when Covid-19 is expected to end," which was also the subject of the unit in which he participated, Kontozamanis pointed out that the answer to this was not known but commented that "once a vaccine is available, this will be a turning point in the pandemic." He expressed hope that this will happen as soon as possible, for the benefit of the health system, society, and the economy.

Kontozamanis stressed that in the last 10 days, 95 people had to be treated in intensive care units and the number of patients admitted to hospitals increased by 63 pct, which put a lot of pressure on the health system. He also commented that the decision for a lockdown was taken "to protect the health system and get the situation under control."