ATHENS — Government spokesperson Stelios Petsas on Thursday said that the country has opened to visitors with the protection of public health and human life as the main guideline, while briefing the press.

"We knew that there will be imported cases and we organised a pioneering plan of targeted random testing and immediate tracking and tracing of cases so that they can be isolated and prevent any spread to the community," he said.

Petsas said that in the 31,169 blood samples collected between July 1 and 6 at all gateways into the country, only 100 had tested positive for the virus. "So we have imported incidents but the increase is mild and under control," he added.

"The biggest problems are due to the import of cases via the land borders because there is a flare up of coronavirus in the Balkans. We are monitoring the epidemiological data at an international level and we are ready to update our strategy," he said.

However, Petsas emphasised that the biggest danger did not come from abroad but from within Greece, from "unacceptable phenomena of [relaxed vigilance]". He stressed that the novel coronavirus has not gone away but is still here and "feeds on our carelessness."

Petsas offered assurances that the government will activate all the control mechanisms available to protect the responsible majority from an irresponsible few.