Greece’s Ionian Isles Labeled ‘Green’ on ECDC Covid-19 Map

The Ionian islands in Greece, including such popular tourist destinations as Corfu, Kefalonia and  Zakynthos, are among the handful of areas in Europe labeled “green” on the weekly European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) map updated on Thursday.

Greece is labeled “medium risk” indicated by the orange color on the map, which charts the spread of the deadly virus and which based on European Commission guidelines now includes a “dark red” category in addition to green, orange, red and grey.

Besides most of Greece, Finland, Denmark, much of Norway and an area in northern Italy are also listed as orange.

The rest of Europe – Britain, Switzerland, Balkan countries, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia excluded and not assessed – is high risk recording more than 150 positive coronavirus cases are per 100,000 of the population.

Besides the Ionian islands, a small province in northern Norway and Iceland have also been labeled “green”, which means that there are fewer than 25 positive cases per 100,000 people in the last 14 days.

Last month, three areas in Greece – Epirus (northwestern Greece), the Ionian and the Aegean islands –  were in the low risk “green” category.

The map, updated every week, is aimed at facilitating an EU Council recommendation for a coordinated approach to the restriction of non-essential travel in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) and its variants.