The possibility that the retail trade in areas where there is low epidemiological burden, left open by the Minister of Development and Investment, Adonis Georgiadis.
«Retail Trade It could be rolled out in regions of the country with a low epidemiological burden, if and when the Commission approves it. We meet every week, and every week we will adjust our strategy based on how the situation evolves. epidemic», Mr. Georgiadis emphasized while speaking to the SKAI.
As he said, «This could have happened right now, but the two regions we were considering opening up, Crete and the Peloponnese, they weren’t complete, and this raised concerns about transportation. Let me give you an example. In Crete, on the map they gave us, the prefectures of Lasithi, Rethymno, and Chania could be opened, but not Heraklion. We thought that if we did that First of all, we would be putting the health of the entire island at risk Because people from Heraklion might have gone to another prefecture to shop, and we couldn’t control that, so there would be a risk of the virus spreading throughout Crete; and second, there would be a great deal of upheaval among merchants.».
At the same time, Mr. Georgiadis praised the «click away» initiative, emphasizing that the measure has begun to pay off, with some stores “having achieved 50% of their turnover compared to last year”. However, he warned that if compliance with the measures ceases and an increase in the transmission rate is observed, the government will proceed—following the advice of scientists—to suspend the measure.
With regard to the delays observed in deliveries courier companies, the Minister of Development stated that «before we began the first lockdown, the courier market was handling 80,000 packages a day, and suddenly that number skyrocketed to 150,000. Companies and warehouses rented additional space and hired staff. However, during the second lockdown, throughout the month of November, as e-commerce has grown significantly, we had an average of online orders 250,000 packages per day, », which is 100,000 more than the peak day of the first lockdown.".
He added that as December begins And as the holidays approached, orders increased exponentially, reaching as many as 800,000 in a single day, and with an average of 500,000 packages per day, the system crashed.
Finally, he reiterated that a program offering a 5,000-euro subsidy for small and medium-sized enterprises to create websites will be announced early this year.
