ATHENS — Main opposition SYRIZA-Progressive Alliance leader Alexis Tsipras lashed out at Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis via social media on Tuesday, accusing him of "criminal responsibilities" for his handling of the pandemic and for taking decisions without heeding the advice of the experts.

Tsipras focused on a statement by Development and Investments Minister Adonis Georgiadis over the delay in imposing a lockdown on the city of Thessaloniki until after the feast day of St. Demetrius and the 'Oxi' day national holiday.

"The development minister's admission that Thessaloniki is mourning so many dead from the pandemic because the government ignored the experts, who had asked for a lockdown before the holiday, is chilling," Tsipras said.

He then attacked the prime minister for "not only lying when he said that no one had called for tougher measures but for once again deliberately putting political cost above human life." This attitude, he noted, concerned not only everything that had happened until now but everything that will be happening going forward.

According to Tsipras, experts had warned of the dangers of complacency, had objected to the decision allowing up to nine people to attend holiday gatherings as "arbitrary" and had learned of plans to reopen schools from the announcements in the media, without being consulted.

The inevitable third wave of the pandemic after the holidays will bear the prime minister's signature, Tsipras added, and it was now abundantly clear why Mitsotakis refused to make the minutes of the meetings with the experts public, since he made decisions without listening to their advice.