ATHENS – The in-person operation of schools is of vital importance for health, psychological and social reasons and this is the European trend. Our main provision is the safeguarding of public health and guaranteeing the operation of the economy and of education,” government spokesperson Yiannis Oikonomou stated, opening his briefing to the press on Monday.

He said that over one million people have been tested, the highest number of tests until today, with 15,547 infections reported so far that would circulate in the community without knowing they are infected and spread the virus.

The main parameter to intercept the spread of the virus is the mass conduct of diagnostic tests. Greece, according to the latest ECDC data is ranked 1st among the EU countries in terms of the number of tests for the novel coronavirus, Oikonomou said.

Regarding the National Health System, he underlined that besides the rapid increase in new infections due to the Omicron variant, the infections, according to the latest data, are pressing the health system mostly for beds but also for ICU beds, as there are still a number of patients infected with the Delta variant that need to be treated in ICUs.