Greece reports 21 new coronavirus cases in returning tour group
ATHENS, Greece (AFP)— Greek health officials on Thursday reported 21 new coronavirus infections among a group that had recently travelled to Israel and Egypt by bus, raising the country's total to 31.
"It was a closed group of people who were on a bus for several days," Sotiris Tsiodras of the national public health organisation (EODY) told a news conference, adding that they had returned to Greece on February 27.
The group had been on a Holy Land trip to Israel and Egypt, EODY said.
Two among the group – an elderly man and his wife – had already tested positive as Greece's ninth and tenth case respectively.
The 66-year-old man has acute pneumonia and is in stable condition, EODY said in an earlier statement.
Another 21 among the group were confirmed on Thursday, Tsiodras said.
Most of the patients are in good health and are being monitored at home, he added.
Officials last night announced a two-day school shutdown and a cancellation of public events in the areas in western Greece where the group had come from.
The two-day shutdown included "a suspension of all mass gatherings" at theatres, cinemas, museums and sports events in the Peloponnese regions of Achaia and Elis and the island of Zakynthos through to Friday.
Ancient Olympia, where the flame for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is scheduled to be lit on March 12, is in Elis.
The Greek Olympic Committee this week said it was drastically scaling back accreditations "to those absolutely necessary", limiting festivities and cancelling all event dinners and galas.
The situation will be re-evaluated regularly, it added.
The coronavirus outbreak has infected more than 95,000 people worldwide and killed over 3,200.
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