Tourism in Greece

Greece's coronavirus toll has risen to 81 with the death of a 42-year-old man in the northern port city of Thessaloniki and of an 84-year-old woman in Athens.

According to reports, the 42-year-old man died at Thessaloniki's AHEPA General Hospital on Monday night after being admitted on March 29. He is the virus' first victim from the region of Halkidiki.

Gale-force winds disrupted ferry schedules from Piraeus to the islands of the Northern and Eastern Aegean on Monday.

The winds, reaching up to 9 and 10 on the Beaufort scale, have led to the suspension of the Nissos Samos ferry service from Piraeus to Chios and Mytilini, while the ships leaving from Lavrio to Kea island also remained tied at the port.

Marketing Greece, the nonprofit organization of the Greek Tourism Confederation (SETE), is evolving into a central entity in the management of the unprecedented crisis in Greek tourism, particularly in the maintenance and strengthening of demand for traveling to Greece when the pandemic eventually subsides.

Mayors of small Greek islands are demanding a ban on all arrivals, especially over Easter, to prevent the spread of Covid-19 as they are not equipped with the necessary medical infrastructure to cope.

These islands include Patmos, Milos, Tilos, Ithaki, Kasos, Alonnisos, Leipsoi, Oinousses, Agathonissi, Psara, Paxos and Rhodes.

The fire service in Thessaloniki on Friday was investigating the cause of a fire that broke out in a basement apartment in the suburb of Kalamaria in the early hours of the morning, leading to the death of a 70-year-old resident.

Two Turkish F-16 fighter jets entered Athens' Flight Information Region (FIR) without submitting a flight plan at 2.19 p.m. Thursday and flew over Oinousses, in the eastern Aegean, at 26,000 feet.

Two minutes later, the two jets flew over Panagia islet at 21,000 feet.

The Turkish aircraft were intercepted by Greek jets in line with international rules of engagement.

The Greek Police (ELAS) recorded a total of 2,561 violations of a public lockdown on Tuesday while nine people were arrested on that day for opening their businesses despite a government ban imposed last month as part of measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Greece is mulling the introduction of further restrictions to public movement to contain the spread of coronavirus, extending a broad lockdown announced last week after a recent surge in violations, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said Wednesday.

The port of Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest, is evolving into a key gateway for the entire Balkan peninsula's supply chain, while constantly becoming a more important part of China's maritime trade plans.

A young woman who was found dead on Monday by night in Paleokastro, a suburb north of Thessaloniki, appears to have died from a fall, police said on Tuesday.

According to investigators in the northern port city, the unnamed 20-year-old seems to have been walking her dog in the vicinity of a disused mine when she tumbled at least 50 meters down a rocky slope.