ATHENS — Main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras had a video conference on Friday to discuss the pandemic with doctors, including infectious diseases specialists, and members of the scientific community.

According to a party announcement, Tsipras put crucial questions regarding the progress of the pandemic, the reasons why the number of cases remains so high in spite of the lockdown and the reliability of the epidemiological data being used by the Committee of Experts to make its recommendations for the management of the pandemic.

Tsipras emphasised the need for transparency and said the epidemiological data in each region must be made public in order to better monitor the course of the disease and make decisions promptly. He cited his experiences from a recent trip to Drama in northern Greece, where local officials complained that they had not been informed about the deterioration in the figures, while the lack of testing meant that Drama switched from a green region into a high-risk red zone in one day.

He also expressed his concern over the steady increase in the number of patients on ventilators and the persistently high number of deaths, while questioning the lack of figures reporting on the number of deaths in ICUs and deaths outside ICUs.

The scientists at the meeting underlined the need for all epidemiological data to be made public and called for full transparency on the part of National Public Health Organisation, SYRIZA's announcement said. They also confirmed that the Committee has not been given figures that break down the number of cases per region.

Regarding the measures that should be taken to tackle the pandemic, they all agreed on the need to immediately requisition private clinics and to increase the number of tests performed by prescribing them, so that they are accessible to everyone and there is a clear picture of the virus' spread in the community.