Covid-19: Greece Lifts Music Ban and Midnight Curfew for Restaurants, Bars

Greek Health Minister Thanos Plevris on Thursday evening announced the easing of Greece’s coronavirus (Covid-19) restrictions following a meeting of the ministry’s health expert committee.

As announced by the minister, the midnight curfew rule and music ban imposed on restaurants, cafes, bars and other entertainment venues will be lifted.

However, such establishments will still not be allowed to have standing customers.

Also, the current rule that sees sports stadiums operating at only 10 percent capacity, with a cap on 1,000 spectators, will remain. The minister added that the rule will be re-evaluated next week.

According to the minister, the health expert committee recommended the easing of the current Covid-19 measures as cases were showing a decline in recent days.

Gov’t extends validity of vaccination certificates for one week

Moreover, Plevris said that the government was extending the validity of vaccination certificates for another week, from January 31 to February 7.

He explained that the extension was to facilitate citizens whose certificates were expiring after having received their second Covid-19 vaccine dose seven months ago and were unable to receive the booster shot these days due to the recent “Elpis” snowstorm in Greece.

Greek health authorities on Thursday announced 19,712 new coronavirus cases, 633 patients on ventilators and 112 deaths. Since the start of the pandemic, the total number of cases in the country has reached 1,867,935. The Covid-19 death toll in Greece is 23,083.