General Secretariat for Civil Protection

An exercise called Hephaestus 2023 for evacuation of a building due to earthquake or fire for people with disabilities was held on Thursday at the building of the National Confederation of People with Disabilities (ESAMEA) in Ilioupoli, southern Athens. 

There is a very high fire risk on Thursday in the regions of Attica and the region of Central Greece ( Viotia and the island of Evia), according to the Fire Risk Forecast Map issued by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection at the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Ministry.

There is a very high risk of fire (risk category 4) for the border region of Evros and the island of Samothraki on Saturday, according to the Fire Risk Forecast Map issued by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection on Friday.

The map showed there is also high risk of fire (risk category 3) for several other Greek regions.

Minister of Citizen Protection Notis Mitarakis has resigned for "personal reasons."

A government briefing confirmed that Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had accepted his resignation.

The Ministry of Citizen Protection is responsible for the country's public security services, such as the police, fire service and General Secretariat for Civil Protection.

Copernicus, the EU's Earth observation program, has been activated for the immediate mapping of the areas in Eastern Attica, Western Attica, Viotia and Corinth (Loutraki) that has been burned in wildfires since Monday.

The scorching heatwave named "Kleon" is currently sweeping across the country, with meteorologists predicting that Friday will be the hottest day yet. Central Greece and Thessaly are set to experience temperatures soaring up to a blistering 44 degrees Celsius.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis will chair a meeting on Tuesday evening to discuss the progress made in the government's plan to vaccinate the public.

The meeting will be held at the Operational Center of the General Secretariat for Civil Protection at 7 p.m.

A seven-day quarantine will be imposed on arrivals to Greece from the United Kingdom, starting 6 a.m. Monday, the General Secretariat for Civil Protection announced Sunday.

Arrivals from any other country continue to face a 3-day quarantine. The measure affecting the UK has to do with the discovery there of a new coronavirus strain.

A storm flooded streets and created bottlenecks in main roads of the Greek capital, while other regions reported damages from hailstorms as a wet weather front swept across the country on Thursday.

The torrential rain gridlocked Ardittou and Vassileos Konstantinou Streets, as well as Kifissou, Kifissias and Mesogeion Avenues.

Residents of a small village in mountainous Agrafa, central Greece, were told to stay at home for the next five days due to the high viral load in the community, the General Secretariat for Civil Protection announced Thursday.

During this time, food and medicine will be brought into the village of Raptopoulo by municipal and regional authorities.