Editorial: Personal responsibility

The state appears to be making every effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus, the first cases of which were detected in Greece over the last few days.

State services are mobilising, the country’s infrastructure appears prepared to manage the situation, and competent civil servants are in a state of readiness.

No effort will yield the desired results, however, if citizens do not follow the instructions of authorities and to that end they must have timely and accurate information.

What is urgently needed is an information campaign that will provide that information.

Citizens must realise that ignorance can be fateful and that knowledge can minimise the dangers and save one.

Citizens are obliged to know what to do if symptoms of COVID-19 appear, where they must go, and to whom they must speak.

Everyone bears the personal responsibility to protect themselves, their family and friends, their fellow citizens, and public health in general.

An ideal society is comprised of responsible citizens and now that responsibility is mandated by an emergency involving the highest good – health.

One cannot afford to deal with health issues lightly but in order to safeguard one’s health one must be thoroughly informed.