COVID-19 death toll rises to 1,156, Easter exit from Athens to provinces to be prohibited

Six more dead from COVID-19, Easter exodus to villages to be prohibited

SIX more people have died within 24 hours from Covid-19 by this afternoon within a matter of hours bringing the death toll to 37 in Greece.

Three of the latest victims were elderly people who were being treated in Athens, Thessaloniki, and Alexandroupolis.

One was being treated in Athens’ large Sotiria pulmonary hospital, the second in Thessaloniki’s AHEPA hospital, and the third (a native of Xanthi) n the University Hospital of Alexandroupolis.

Health ministry spokesman Sotiris Tsiodras announced that six more people have died of COVID-19 and there are 95 new cases, bringing the total number of cases to 1,156 and 71 is the average age of patients.

Interior Minister Takis Theodorikakos told nationwide Mega television that residents of Attica will not be permitted to leave the area and return to ancestral villages as happens each year with a huge exodus from Athens.

“April will be a difficult month with a rise in the number of cases and possibly in the number of deaths,” he said.

Asked if the lockdown will be extended through early May he said it is unclear when the crisis will end, whether it will be two months or eight months, and that the PM will decide based on the advice of experts.

Meanwhile, the president of the Attica Pharmaceutical Association, Kostas Lourantos,  underlined that when ministers or other officials refer to the usefulness of a medicine such as coagulants many hasten to purchase it even though its use is dangerous outside a hospital setting.

He said that there has also been a run on oximeters which officials have said are useful in monitoring possible symptoms.