Israel stated on Thursday that it will soon designate Greece as a “red country,” which means that any Israelis returning from there will have to enter quarantine for two weeks. Greece is currently the only country where Israelis can both visit and return from without being required to quarantine.

However, Israelis will have to stop traveling to Greece in any event since Greece’s prime minister on Thursday announced a nationwide three-week lockdown starting Saturday, saying that the increase in coronavirus infections must be stopped before the country’s health care system comes under “unbearable” pressure. The announcement apparently also means that thousands of Israelis vacationing in Greece will try to rush back to Israel before the lockdown goes into effect.

The main difference between this lockdown and the one Greece imposed in the spring is that kindergartens and primary schools will remain open. High schools will operate by remote learning. The lockdown goes until Nov. 30.

Residents will only be able to leave their homes for specific reasons such as work, medical appointments or exercise, and after informing authorities by text message. Retail businesses will be shut down but not supermarkets and food stores. Restaurants will operate on a delivery-only basis.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said he “chose once again to take drastic measures sooner rather than later” after seeing an “aggressive increase in cases” over the last five days.

On Wednesday, Greece announced a record 18 daily deaths and 2,646 new cases, bringing the total confirmed cases to just under 47,000 and the deaths to 673.

Thousands of Israelis vacationing in Greece were stranded on Monday after the Greek government announced that it was closing the airport in the city of Thessaloniki as part of a general lockdown in northern Greece in the wake of a surge in the infection rate.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)