Fight against Covid-19 at critical juncture

The most recent findings of the committee of experts regarding the course of the pandemic have created mixed emotions in the government and an opaque landscape regarding the time and manner it will begin lifting the lockdown.

The committee's findings, which were presented to the government on Friday, did indeed show that the pandemic's relentless course was starting to abate, and in particular the reproduction rate, or Rt index, but not at the expected pace, especially as the country has completed three weeks under severely restrictive measures.

The assessment of the experts is that a portion of the population is not effectively implementing precautionary measures, while the transmission of the virus continues from younger to older people.

Accordingly, the Rt on Friday started at 0.68 in Attica, at 0.85 in Thessaloniki, at 0.75 in northern Greece and at 0.84 in...