Greece reported 262 new cases of Coronavirus on Wednesday— its highest daily tally since the coronavirus outbreak started in the country.
The latest spike in cases brings the total number of infections in Greece to 6,177 and 216 deaths since its first case surfaced late February.
Among the new cases, 85 were registered in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki and 66 in the capital Athens.
The increase in infections in recent weeks has prompted authorities to gradually introduce more restrictions during the peak of the tourism season.
Visitors arriving from Sweden, Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, and the Czech Republic will need proof they have tested negative for the novel coronavirus to gain entry starting August 17, which cannot be older than 72 hours prior to arrival.
All visitors entering Greece via land borders will undergo the same requirements. A negative test is already required for passengers arriving with a flight connection from Bulgaria, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, and Malta.
Civil aviation authorities on Wednesday extended a ban to flights from Turkey until Aug. 31 and restricted flights from Albania and North Macedonia to Athens airport only.
It is worth mentioning that the novel coronavirus was first reported in Wuhan, China, and has infected more than one million people and killed over 234,139 worldwide. It also hit several celebrities and top political figures around the world.
The virus is a new member of the Coronaviruses group, which was never identified in humans. The viruses’ family also includes Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV), which cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases.
Coronaviruses are zoonotic, meaning they are transmitted between animals and people. Humans and animals such as mammals and birds can be affected by the disease.
The name coronavirus is derived from the Latin corona, meaning “crown” or “halo”.
On February 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the official name for the disease caused by the new coronavirus is Covid-19, taken from the words “corona”, “virus” and “disease”.
In December 2019, an outbreak was reported in Wuhan, China. On 31 December 2019, the outbreak was traced to a novel strain of coronavirus, which was given the interim name 2019-nCoV by the World Health Organization (WHO), it was later renamed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses.
On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic as the new virus has rapidly spread to more than 800,000 people from Asia to the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
Transmission of viruses between humans happens when someone comes into contact with an infected person’s secretions, such as droplets in a cough.
Coronavirus can also be transmitted by coming into contact with something an infected person has touched and then touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
It is known that older people appear to be more vulnerable to the effects of the emerging virus.
The virus caused complete paralysis in all activities and events with large gatherings worldwide due to concerns over the spread of the virus.
People across the globe partake in self-isolation for 14 days as an effective precautionary measure to protect those around them and themselves from contracting COVID-19.
