ATHENS – Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his gratitude to the Health Ministry's committee of epidemiologists for their services to public health in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, speaking during their video conference on Monday.

He stressed that the committee's proposals and guidelines are extremely valuable for drawing out the government's health and prevention policy, and will continue to shape the next steps of the national combat plan against the novel coronavirus.

Speaking of the gradual opening of businesses as having "a far greater degree of difficulty than the measure of lockdowns," the premier praised the calm and calming attitude of the infectious disease specialists, particularly when called upon to inform the Greek public on the pandemic, as professor Sotiris Tsiodras did.

Mitsotakis said the committee's health experts have provided suggestions on how and when to reboot the country's tourism industry, and how to prepare for a possible resurgence of the pandemic in October.

The outcome, he said, is "the great confidence of Greeks in the National Health System" and his personal commitment to ensuring that reliability and effectiveness become permanent features of the National Health System.