ATHENS — Government spokesperson Stelios Petsas, in an interview with SKAI radio on Tuesday, strenuously dismissed reports of "double books" for recording cases and deaths due to coronavirus. The spokesperson stressed that there is a national register at the electronic social insurance governance platform IDIKA that records all cases from different sources. He also noted that this process is not recent but has applied since spring, while all the data has been publicly available since March.

Regarding the relaxation of the restrictions to curb Covid19, he said it was clear that giving dates was not helpful at this time, and added that the data "shows where we are going and when we will gradually and safely open sectors of economic and social activity." He stressed that the country was "still far from dates" and added: "We have a clear improvement in the data in recent days. We will need more time. The data will show us the way."

Asked whether the government was hiding cases or deaths, he replied that "neither of these things are true", adding: "Death cannot be hidden. And why hide cases? Why was there no such complaint months ago? There are no secrets."

"There is no reason for anyone to try to damage the trust between the state and the citizens. There are other areas to mount opposition rather than look for something that does not exist," Petsas said.

"Greece had quick reflexes and built systems that did not exist in other countries, such as tracking and the PLF form. Its scientists are among the best and this was proved by yesterday's success with the production of a rapid test by a Greek programme funded by the state. The data is transparent and complete," he stressed.