Prefectures of Greece

A secretary at the Turkish Consulate on Rhodes will face a magistrate this week on espionage charges after a 54-year-old galley cook allegedly admitted to being recruited by the diplomat over the summer to keep tabs on Greek ships in the southeastern Aegean.

Health authorities noted signs, albeit faint ones, that the coronavirus curve is leveling off on Friday as cases continued on a downward trend with admissions to hospitals gradually coming down across many parts of the country in recent days. 

Mobile units of the National Organization for Public Health (EODY) will conduct rapid antigen tests in large industrial units in the northern regions of Xanthi, Drama, Pella, Florina, Pieria and Imathia in the coming days, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus.

Authorities and health experts are closely monitoring the course of the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic as it unfolds around the country with increasing concern, both in terms of the suffocating pressure it is exerting on the National Health System and its dynamics in areas outside major urban centers, such as Pella, Pieria, Grevena, Drama and Serres in northern Greece.

A 34-year-old people trafficker dived into the Strymonas River in an unsuccessful bid to elude police over the illegal transport of four refugees, including a minor, authorities said on Thursday.

The car he was driving was spotted by police on Wednesday afternoon on the old national road linking Thessaloniki to Kavala in northern Greece, in the region of Ofryni.

Three patients with Covid-19 from the region of Drama were airlifted to hospitals in Athens on Thursday, as hospitals in northern Greece reached capacity due to a surge of the virus.

A man was killed after being run over several times near Thessaloniki in northern Greece.
The 20-year-old, who was not named, was found on the Thessaloniki-Kilkis national highway late Tuesday.
Police said a vehicle driven by a 41-year-old woman hit the pedestrian who was subsequently struck by several more vehicles.
An investigation into the death is ongoing.

Greece reopened to more international flights on Monday as the tourist season formally got under way, with the aim to strike what government spokesman Stelios Petsas described as a delicate balance between an "authentic" travel experience and the safety of visitors.

Three foreign nationals, aged 23, 28 and 21, were arrested in Thessaloniki, northern Greece after a car chase, police said on Tuesday.
The three were charged with mugging a man in the city center, attempting to cause grievous bodily harm and resisting arrest.

The cities of Karditsa in central Greece and Rethymno on the island of Crete received distinctions as part of European Mobility Week 2019 for their efforts to promote safe walking and cycling.

Karditsa came first in the category of small towns (less than 50,000 inhabitants), while Rethymno was second in the category of large cities.