A Greek candlemaker has come up with a novel way of highlighting the need to wear a mask to curb the spread of the COVID-19 – putting them on his Santa candles.
Alexios Gerakis, in the northern town of Thessaloniki, has made decorative candles featuring Father Christmas with a big blue surgical mask covering his white beard.
“Because of the times, we are trying to convey a message that health comes first, then everything else,” Gerakis, 37, told Reuters Television. Snowmen are also sporting a mask.
Thessaloniki has been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in a second, more aggressive surge which resurfaced in the autumn, forcing Greek authorities to reimpose a nationwide lockdown which expires at the end of November.
READ MORE: Greece to enter second nationwide lockdown.
Greece registered a further 3,209 cases and 60 deaths on Wednesday. It has reported a total of 82,034 coronavirus infections since February, and 1,288 deaths.
“Christmas is a bit of a question mark for all of us this year I think, we don’t know how this will end. We have to be optimistic, but it’s uncertain what will happen,” Gerakis said.
Source: Reuters.