Greece's plan for “Covid-free” islands!

The Corriere della Sera newspaper today devotes an article to the planning being implemented in Greece to enable it to become a «coronavirus-free» country.

«Think of a place where you can go for a free ride, no masks, no gels, no mandatory distances. A place where you can dance, kiss, go out to dinner, and even trip over someone without fear that you might get infected. It would be a place protected from the global pandemic that paralyzed the entire world for a year, a covid free paradise. Instead of dreaming of a health utopia, there is someone working to make it a reality: the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis,» writes Corriere della Sera.

The Milanese newspaper adds that at this stage a strict lockdown is in force in the Attica region, but stresses that «the plan to ensure coronavirus-free islands, which can be present on the international tourism market, is a national priority, and the Athens government is working both at the health and diplomatic level“.

«A small number of islands are already covid free. All residents, on Meganissi, Kalamos, and Kastos, in the Ionian Sea, and Ikaria in the Aegean, were vaccinated. Greek and foreign residents. A few thousand inhabitants, but these islands can welcome tens of thousands of tourists. For every local person vaccinated, it is estimated that there are at least ten tourists, for the whole season,» writes Corriere.

In a statement, a Rhodes hotelier also stresses that «if all residents of the island are vaccinated and tourists carry a vaccination certificate with them, life can return to completely normal, as it was before the damn covid».

The newspaper quotes a statement by the Greek Prime Minister in which he stresses: «This year there will be a great demand for travel and we must be ready. We must manage to guarantee that the islands will be safe. Those who work in hotels, in restaurants in the tourism industry must be safe. The more people who are vaccinated, the more visitors will come to our country.» Meanwhile, Corriere della Sera reports that Kyriakos Mitsotakis insists on the necessity of a vaccination certificate.

«It may be difficult to apply this whole project to large Italian islands such as Sicily and Sardinia. But to apply it, experimentally, to smaller areas, such as the islands of Pontine and Eolie, could also be useful for our tourism,» concludes Corriere della Sera.