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Greece has passed peak of third wave of pandemic, says tourism minister

He stressed that Greece had taken very strict measures to fight the pandemic

MOSCOW, April 16. /TASS/. Greece has passed the peak of the third wave of coronavirus infections - last week, the number of infections in the country fell by half compared to the previous week, Greek Tourism Minister Harry Theoharis said in an interview with TASS.

"We seem to pass the top of the third wave [of pandemic]. Last week we already had 50% less cases than we had a week before that," Theoharis said.

He stressed that Greece had taken very strict measures to fight the pandemic.

"Greece has always been very strict [in fighting the disease] by restricting movement, closing restaurants, doing a lot of things. Given all that, we are able to control the situation," he said adding that this is not the end and the country wants to keep the trend for the decline in number of infections.

The politician expressed confidence that Greece will cope with the pandemic thanks to new knowledge the doctors have received, the vaccination program, which is being implemented in the country at a good pace, and even the weather.

"The vaccination program is going nicely - we don’t have a strong resistance. People accept vaccines and they do them. This has already resulted in a decline in number of deaths and cases among older people - that is another good thing. And finally we have a lot of cheaper and faster tests," the minister said.

According to the World Health Organization, 304,184 coronavirus infections were recorded in Greece from January 3, 2020 to April 15 of this year, and 9,135 people died.