Zakynthos

Shortly after a second fatality from the new coronavirus was confirmed in Greece on Saturday, a third death was announced by state-run news agency ANA-MPA.

The third victim is a 67-year-old man from the island of Zakynthos.

The man, who died Saturday morning, had checked into the local hospital three days ago.

The total cases of coronavirus in Greece have risen to 66, of which 47 are among a group that traveled to Israel and Egypt in late February, the country's National Public Health Organization (EODY) reported Saturday.

No fatalities have been reported from the disease yet. A 66-year-old man, among the travelers, is in intensive care.

The government announced emergency measures on Wednesday evening in the prefectures of Ilia, Zakynthos and Achaia in western Greece to contain the spread of the coronavirus after a ninth case was confirmed earlier in the day. 

Under the measures schools, sports arenas, cinemas, theaters and archaeological sites will be closed for 48 hours.

A moderate tremor measuring 4.6 on the Rickter scale hit the sea south of the island of Zakynthos in western Greece on Friday night, the Athens Geodynamics Institute said in a preliminary reading.

The epicenter of the tremor, registered shortly after 8 p.m., is located in the sea region 18 kilometers south of the Ionian island, at a depth of 28.2 kilometers.

A Greek court on Wednesday postponed the retrial of seven suspects on murder charges over the 2017 fatal beating of a Texan tourist on an island resort to allow a lawyer newly hired by the victim's family to familiarize himself with the case.

The court in the western port town of Patras postponed the case until Jan. 13.

Very strong winds have cut off passenger shipping routes to the island of Kefalonia, as a long-awaited weather front begins to make itself felt.

Winds are blowing up to Force 9 speeds (75-88 km per hour).

On the island of Zakynthos, a ferry service from the Peloponnese operated Sunday afternoon, but the route is expected to shut down until Monday morning.

A new wet front that brought heavy showers and thunderstorms to western Greece and the Ionian has wreaked widespread destruction, causing floods, uprooting trees and damaging roofs and roads on the island of Zakynthos, officials of the General Secretariat of Civil Protection said on Wednesday.

Two moderate tremors struck the Ionian island of Zakynthos on Saturday, rattling residents but causing no injuries or major damage.

The first quake, measuring 4.4 on the Richter scale, struck off the island's southern coast shortly before 2 a.m.

The second, a 4.2-level temblor, came eight hours later off the island's western coast, just before 10 a.m.

Following its publication in Greek last year, "The Last Monk of the Strofades: Memories from an Unknown Greek Island" is now available in English from Abbeville Press.

Greek authorities say 40 migrants rescued by a passing merchant ship from a crippled sailboat off western Greece have safely arrived in port.

In a statement, the coast guard said the 34 men, two women and four children disembarked Wednesday in Kalamata, southern Greece.