The Ionian islands, especially Cephalonia and Ithaca, were most seriously hit last night by the Mediane “Ianos”. The regional Civil Protection Secretariat issued a warning on Thursday urging the restriction of people’s movement at the island of Zakynthos from Thursday evening until late night Friday, in view of Medicane (Mediterranean hurricane) “Ianos” approaching the region.
Schools at Cephalonia, Zakynthos and Ithaca, western Greece and several areas of the Peloponese as well as Chalkida are closed today, while ferry routes to and from Kyllini-Zakynthos and Kyllini-Kefalonia, Rio-Antirio and Ithaca-Sami-Patras are suspended.
The Medicane is expected to move to the Peloponese today.
Attica will be affected from this afternoon onwards, with heavy rainfall and thunderstorms expected, but not gale force winds.
Health Authorities on Thursday announced 359 new coronavirus cases – 212 of which were recorded in Attica – bringing the nationwide total of infections since the pandemic hit Greece in February to 14,400. Nine new fatalities reported yesterday, bring the death toll up to 325.
Government and health experts are expected to monitor the situation for another 10 days to see whether new restrictions imposed on Attica this week have any impact in curbing the transmission of the virus. If not, they are said to be considering a new lockdown, this time only for a few days.
Addressing a media briefing on Thursday, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said authorities were “adjusting to a dynamic phenomenon and will take any measures necessary.” “The next few months will be difficult,” Petsas said. “We should all take care to observe the measures recommended by experts and put a stop to the increase in cases we’ve seen over the past few days.”
Greek Finance Minister Christos Staikouras on Thursday invited foreign investors to invest in Greece saying that the Greek economy showed remarkable resistance to the consequences of the pandemic and by fully exploiting EU funds will enter into a period of high and sustainable growth rates.
Members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution at a Brussels voting session on Thursday which calls on Turkey to immediately end any further illegal exploration and drilling activities in the Eastern Mediterranean.
It also calls on Greece’s neighboring country to refrain from violating Greek airspace and Greek and Cypriot territorial waters and stop its “nationalistic warmongering rhetoric,” reads the MEPs’ statement.
The resolution comes ahead of a Special European Council meeting on September 24-25 on Turkey’s activities in the Eastern Mediterranean, and also urges sanctions against Turkey over its energy research in disputed waters there, unless the country shows “sincere cooperation and concrete progress” in easing tensions with Greece and Cyprus.
And the weather forecast…
Cloudy and rainy in Attica. Thunderstorms are expected at night. Winds will be blowing from the southwest at a speed of 4-6 on the Beaufort scale. The temperature is expected to reach a maximum of 28 degrees Celsius.
