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Greece reimposes COVID-19 curbs after Christmas easing

Virus Outbreak Greece Empty Streets
A woman prays outside an Orthodox Church in the Monastiraki district of Athens, on Sunday Dec 20, 2020. Despite six weeks of lockdown measures, coronavirus deaths and infections remain high, piling pressure on the country's health system.(Photo: AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

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ATHENS: Greece will tighten coronavirus curbs for a week from Sunday (Jan 3), closing hair salons, bookstores and some other shops that had been allowed to reopen in the run-up to Christmas, the government said on Saturday.

Most shops remained closed during December in Greece but the seasonal easing of restrictions provided a little relief for some hard-hit retail businesses.

The new, tighter rules will come into force on Jan 3, government spokesman Stelios Petsas said in a televised statement. A night-time curfew will start at 9pm (Monday, 3am Singapore time), an hour earlier than before.

Petsas said the measures were aimed at helping schools reopen on Jan 11.

Greece, which started the first vaccinations against the coronavirus last week, has reported 139,447 confirmed coronavirus cases and 4,881 related deaths.

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Source: Reuters/kv