Telecommunications

The number of text messages sent by people in Greece who want to leave their houses during the lockdown measures put in place to halt the spread of the new coronavirus ranged between 1.3 and 1.8 million per day from March 23, when the system was introduced, to March 26, authorities said.

The numbers do not include messages that were either in the wrong format or rejected.

The checkpoints at places of entry and exit of Sofia start operating at 00:01 on March 21. Police officers from the Ministry of Interior will be checking the purpose of travel.

Turkey will start a distance education program for around 18 million students through six channels provided by the state-run Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the education minister has said, stressing that nearly 900 million students cannot go to schools worldwide and there is a need for an effective education system for children.

Eurovision 2020 organizers have announced they are canceling the event due to the spread of the coronavirus, the Independent reports.

The news was reported to Eurovision's official Twitter account and page.

"It is with deep regret that we have to announce the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam.

Turkey's land borders with Greece and Bulgaria have been closed to entry and exit of passengers as a measure against the coronavirus outbreak, state broadcaster TRT Haber said on Wednesday.

A TRT reporter said the gates were still open for logistics.

Instead of attending cultural events, people can entertain themselves by watching a selection of Slovenian films online provided by the Slovenian Film Centre free of charge.

The films will be added twice a week, with the content available for a week.

Albanian mobile phone users have unexpectedly received a recorded message from the Prime Minister, advising them on how to protect themselves from the coronavirus - and the media.

"Wash your hands, don't move from your house for pleasure, open windows as much as you can, protect yourself from the media," the message from Edi Rama said.

An increasing number of Greek businesses are implementing work-from-home programs to protect their employees and the public from the new coronavirus.

Companies whose staff are or will be working from home include online shopping platforms such as Skroutz and efood, as well as the taxi service Beat.

Corporations in Greece are increasingly adopting solutions that allow for teleworking, video conferences and digital signatures while strengthening their cloud computing capacity, information technology sector professionals tell Kathimerini.

Organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest said they were focused for now on holding the event planned for Rotterdam in May while weighing possible disruptions from the coronavirus crisis.

Dutch public broadcaster NPO said it was in consultations with the European Broadcasting Union, the co-producer of the hugely popular televised event, to review how the virus may impact the contest.