THESSALONIKI — A party in Greece's second-largest city, Thessaloniki, that broke health protocols aimed at preventing the spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus with the gradual easing of a lockdown led to several people at least coming down the disease, reports said.

The party was reportedly organized at a luxury villa by a Thessaloniki student studying in London who was celebrating her homecoming and reunion with friends, said Kathimerini, with reports she traveled to Greece by car through Bulgaria.

She had been required to quarantine herself but instead apparently organized the party which now has health officials scrambling to find and test everyone who was there to prevent a resurgence of the virus.

Greece had one of the best records in the world holding down the number of cases and deaths because of an early lockdown on March before a single fatality but a gradual lifting of restrictive measures and business openings that began May 4 has seen a spike in cases in recent days with may ignoring requirements to wear masks and gloves and stay at least 1.5 meters (4.92 feet) apart and some bars allowing mass gatherings there.