Dec 16, 2021
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Every day at 6pm Greeks turn on their TV sets and tune into a broadcast that at other times they might have missed. Like most rituals, there are no surprises: each time they encounter the same scene, two men, seated several meters apart, behind a long table in a brightly lit room.
The health ministry’s daily coronavirus briefing then begins with Sotiris Tsiodras, a soft-spoken Harvard-trained professor of infectious diseases, delivering the latest facts and figures with the occasional emotional plea. Nikos Hardalias, the civil defence minister, invariably follows, invoking the gravity of the situation with warnings that Greeks “must stay at home”.
The bookish professor and no-nonsense former mayor are the faces who have come to be associated with the government’s drive to contain the spread of Covid-19. Their efforts at keeping the country virus-safe appear to be paying off: in a population of just over 11 million, there were, as of Monday, 2,145 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 99 fatalities, far lower than elsewhere in Europe. Italy to date has registered 20,465 deaths.
Greece, it is generally agreed, is having a better crisis than may have been expected. Tsiodras recently allowed himself to speak of “a flattening of the curve” even if authorities accept that the prospect of Orthodox Easter, on 19 April, is unlikely to be without challenge. Traditionally, Greeks flock to ancestral villages in the countryside to celebrate the biggest festival in their religious calendar.
The country’s ability to cope with a public health emergency of such proportions was not a given. After almost a decade embroiled in debt crisis – years in which its economy contracted by 26% – Greece’s health system has far from recovered.
State hospitals bore the brunt of cuts demanded in return for rescue loans from international lenders to keep the nation afloat and in the eurozone. With the epidemic’s arrival in Europe, officials were forced to acknowledge, 18 months after the country exited its third bailout, that it had only 560 intensive care unit (ICU) beds.
It was a stark reality that left no room for mitigation strategy, or contemplating policies of achieving “herd immunity”.
“When you see us together again, it will mean, things are very bad,” head of Greek Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias said at the last coronavirus live briefing end on May. Two months later, things seem to be “very bad” indeed and the Health Ministry announced an extraordinary live briefing with the country’s top epidemiologist, professor for Infectious Diseases, Sotitis Tsiodras.
The Tsiodras-Hardalias briefing is scheduled to go on air at 06:00 p.m. on Tuesday, August 4. The government resumed a live coronavirus briefing with Hardalias once a week in July.
Tsiodras’ return on TV screens coincides with several media reports that he, as the head of the consulting committee at the Health Ministry, was at odds with the government’s recent handling of the pandemic.
New coronavirus infections have been on a constant rise since July 21, and new spikes in the last few days.
On Saturday, August 1, new cases jumped to 110 from 78 a day earlier, and were followed by 75 on Sunday and 77 on Monday. In these three days tests were positive at 1.14%, 1.26% and 2.20% respectively.
Citizens have relaxed and are crowding in bars and beach bars, at weddings and other social events, while infections among tourist are at two-digits on a daily basis.
It is still not known what exactly Tsiodras will tell Greeks this evening, but it is estimated that some 20% of the people were listening to him and complied with protection measures such as social distancing, beyond the fear of the fines.
Sydney-born infectious diseases expert Sotiris Tsiodras has become a national hero in Greece for helping control the spread of COVID-19 and avoid the tragically high infection and death rates experienced in Spain and Italy.
While some Greeks admit they do not typically like to follow rules, Greek Australians living in the country's capital cities and on islands have told The Age and The Sun-Herald they have embraced Dr Tsiodras' advice on strict infection control measures.
A professor of medicine and infectious diseases at an Athens university, Dr Tsiodras, 54, has been widely credited for alerting the Greek government of the need to act quickly to COVID-19 to avoid the plight of countries such as France, Italy and Spain.
Each night at 6pm, the professor appears on television screens to update Greeks on the latest infection rates, fatalities and outbreaks. The French newspaper Le Figaro called him the "new darling of the Greeks", while Melbourne's Greek newspaper Neos Kosmos described him Greece's "man of the moment". Greece's Ekathimerini publication named the softly spoken professor as the most popular person in Greece according to a poll conducted for Alpha TV.
Behind the glass
Behind the cash register of a small mini market in the empty centre of Athens, Anna watches everyday without fail the evening briefings by the government spokesman.
Director/ Director of Photography/ Editing: Giorgos Eliopoulos
Greece’s top epidemiologist and Professor for Infectious Diseases Sotiris Tsiodras and the head of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalias visited the Roma settlement under quarantine after at least 20 residents were tested positive n coronavirus.
They both did not use any protection means like masks and gloves and mingled with the crowd in an effort to inform them about the virus, the risks and the social distancing.
They explained the purpose of the quarantine and appealed to “everyone to comply with the measures for the next 14 days in order to protect our grandmothers and grandparents, those who have health issues.”
They urged the people to be patient.
“Stay home and o nothing else,” Hardalias told the crowd.
The speeches were received with mixed feelings. Some among the crowd applauded and some said “We are Vlach-Roma”, “We don’t have the virus, we don’t get the virus.”
It was a move of high symbolic and had several recipients. Not only the settlement residents but also the locals in Larissa, central Greece, as well as many media and social media users who lashed out against Roma with racist comments.
Mainstream media sent reported to Roma settlements in Athens and else were and pretended to see for the first time the living conditions of the Roma communities.
When Tsiodras later said during the daily briefing that the number of new confirmed cases was “56”, some news presenters said “56 new cases, that is 36 as 20 are the cases the Romas” in the settlement.
“The Roma are not a threat,” Tsiodras said in his capacity as spokesman of the National Health Organization during the briefing on Friday afternoon.
“The Roma community in EU countries should not be used as scapegoat in the current pandemic; the Greek Roma community will continue to enjoy the same healthcare as everyone else,” he said.
Leader of main opposition left-wing SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, reiterated his call on early elections on Monday arguing that the conservative N
Leader of main opposition left-wing SYRIZA, Alexis Tsipras, reiterated his call on early elections on Monday arguing that the conservative New Democracy government has failed to handle the coronavirus pandemic and to the price hikes
Speaking at a conference on digitalization on Monday, Tsipras said that public trust in the conservative government has been irreparably damaged by failure to respond to the “dual challenge” posed by the Covid-19 and the inflation.
“Protecting human lives and social cohesion should be top priorities at the moment,” Tsipras said, adding that allowing the conservatives more time in power “carries risk” for the country.