Holiday Travellers To Enter 10-Day Quarantine On Arrival

Reported in Ekathimerini:

Travellers who fly into Greece during the holiday season will have to enter a mandatory ten-day quarantine on arrival, as well as submit to a rapid antigen test at the airport and produce a negative PCR test, government spokesman Stelios Petsas announced on Monday, as the government struggled to contain the second wave of the pandemic.

In a televised briefing, Petsas said the measure will apply from December 18 to January 7, 2021.

The self-isolation will include Greek students returning for the holidays from abroad, or anyone traveling for business or other reasons, he said.

The announcement comes as the health system remained under enormous pressure and after the third extension of most of the current restrictive measures until January 7.

Note from Kelsey:



Just to make it very clear, this new holiday season quarantine applies on Hydra (as well as throughout Greece) to homeowners whether Greek or not. As of yesterday, if you insist on travelling to Hydra,  you must have a full CoVid test done prior to travelling, must have completed your pre-flight self-certification and might also have to submit to random testing when you land. In addition, from the 18th December you will also have to quarantine for 10 days.

It's a miserable situation but the fact is that the Greek Government recognise that the health system here is at breaking point and one of the few proven ways to reduce cases and deaths is to restrict movement. As with Pascha at the beginning of the year,  I'm afraid Christmas is effectively cancelled too. Hopefully, the vaccinations planned worldwide will work well enough to enable freedom of travel in 2021.