The number of new infections announced by Greek health authorities hit a new high on Wednesday reaching 865, pushing the total number to 27,334.
Of these new cases, 44 were reported at the country’s entry points, the National Organisation for Public Health (EODY) said in its daily bulletin.
The data showed six more patients died from COVID-19, raising the total number of fatalities to 534.
The total number of intubated patients was 86, while 265 have left ICU.
EODY also said that authorities have conducted 1,588,713 PCR tests and 41,827 rapid antigen tests since the start of the epidemic in Greece.
Deputy Civil Protection Minister, Nikos Hardalias, has announced new restrictions for Kastoria.
Second northern region to enter lockdown on Friday:
A local lockdown will be imposed in the northern region of Kastoria, western Macedonia, on Friday after the surge in infections.
The announcement came at an emergency press briefing by Deputy Civil Protection Minister, Nikos Hardalias, on Wednesday.
Kastoria will become the second city categorised as level 4, or red, in a tiered system ranking the level of transmission of coronavirus and the potential for its spread, after Kozani.
This means citizens will have to wear face masks everywhere, public and private gatherings will be banned, as well as travel outside the region. Shops, gyms, courts, restaurants, cinemas, museums and archaeological sites will close.
Hardalias also said that the regions of Thessaloniki, Viotia, Larisa, Serres will be categorised as level 3. Ioannina remains in category 3.
“The next few days will be crucial in our efforts to halt the pandemic,” Mr Hardalias said at the briefing and urged citizens in these regions to remain vigilant.
Maria Sakkari is through to her third Premier quarterfinal of the season after toppling top seed Elina Svitolina in straight sets at the J&T Banka Ostrava Open.
The Greek player honed in on the Svitolina second serve, and was rewarded with five breaks as she blasted 32 winners on her way to a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
“I think my ground-strokes worked really well, I was super solid from the baseline,” the Greek told Czech Television after the match.
The win sends Sakkari through to her third quarterfinal of 2020 after putting together deep runs in St. Petersburg and the Western & Southern Open, and marks her fourth career win over a Top 5 player.
Up next, Sakkari will await the winner between Ons Jabeur or wildcard Jelana Ostapenko. The former French Open champion made quick work of No.5 seed Petra Martic, 6-3, 6-1 earlier in the day to advance.
The leaders of Cyprus, Egypt and Greece on Wednesday renewed an invitation to Turkey to become a partner in reaping the potential benefits of offshore gas deposits, while urging Ankara to end its “aggressive” actions in the eastern Mediterranean.
Talks between Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis included cooperation in fields ranging from energy to combatting terrorism.
All three condemned Turkey’s numerous “provocations” that they said have sharply escalated tensions and are threatening regional peace.
Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, center, Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, right, and Egypt’s President, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, talk to the media after their meeting at the presidential palace in capital Nicosia, Cyprus. Photo: Iakovos Hatzistavrou Pool via AP.
“The timing of this trilateral meeting coincides with additional dangers that are unfortunately created by Turkey’s leadership which dreams up imperial practices and aggressive acts from Syria, to Libya, from Somalia to Cyprus, from the Aegean to the Caucusus,” Mitsotakis said.
But both Mitsotakis and Anastasiades extended an olive branch to Turkey, offering a place within the three-way partnership if Ankara drops its belligerence.
“I’ll say it again that in our (partnership) Turkey could also take part, no one excluded it from the start,” Mitsotakis said. “But more often than not, what marginalizes it are its own actions unfortunately.”
Earlier, in a joint declaration, the three leaders condemned Turkey’s actions in Varosha and its illegal drilling and other operations inside the island’s exclusive economic zone and within Greece’s continental shelf.
Greece’s Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, talks during a press conference with Cyprus President, Nicos Anastasiades, and Egypt’s President, Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi. Photo: Iakovos Hatzistavrou Pool via AP.
They also expressed their grave concern over the recent escalation within the maritime zones in the eastern Mediterranean and the increased militarisation of the region “that threatens the wider stability, peace, and security.”
“We strongly condemned Turkey’s illegal drilling and seismic operations in Cyprus’ EEZ/continental shelf, in marine areas already delimited in accordance with international law, including between the Republic of Cyprus and the Arab Republic of Egypt,” the declaration said.
“We also condemned the continuous violations of Greek national airspace and territorial waters in the Aegean Sea and Turkey’s illegal activities in areas falling within Greece’s continental shelf.”
The leaders of Cyprus, Egypt and Greece meet in the Cypriot capital for talks on forging closer ties and boosting cooperation on issues including energy following the discovery of gas deposits in the east Mediterranean. Photo: Iakovos Hatzistavrou Pool via AP.
The three countries stressed that delimitation of the continental shelf and exclusive economic zones should be addressed through dialogue and negotiations with full respect for international law.
“We call on Turkey to accept the invitation by Cyprus to engage in negotiations, in good faith and in full respect of international law, with the objective to reach an agreement for the maritime delimitation between their relevant coasts, or to submit the issue to the International Court of Justice.”
The one-day regional summit between Greece, Cyprus and Egypt in Cyprus came amid high tension between neighbors and NATO allies Greece and Turkey over maritime borders, after Ankara sent a research vessel, escorted by warships, to disputed waters between the Greek islands, southern Turkey and Cyprus.
Turkey has also sent drilling ships where Cyprus says it has exclusive economic rights.
The thriving café industry from the early 1900’s to 1990’s remains one of the most iconic pieces of early Greek Australian history. Each small café across regional or suburban Australia carries its own unique piece of history, who’s stories have been told through numerous media outlets.
Andrew Pippos spent part of his childhood getting underfoot in his uncle and grandmother’s café, ‘Cafe De Luxe’ in Brewarrina, NSW. Taking all he learnt from watching his family manage a successful café, Andrew decided he wanted his debut book to feature an element of what made up much of his childhood.
Pippos’ book ‘Lucky’s’ boasts a number of storylines yet centralises on the main character Lucky and the main achievement of his life; The creation of his restaurant franchise in Australia. The book contains many stories about Lucky’s friends and family, illustrating the rise and fall of his restaurant.
“I wanted to write about a familiar setting that had an importance to me personally,” Andrew Pippos says to The Greek Herald.
Andrew Pippos. Photo: Supplied
“It’s very common for a writer to write about the places that were important to them in their childhood. So the cafés were the first community that I knew.”
Cafe De Luxe is one of the earliest, still-existing soda parlours that has been Greek-run since the 1920s when it was established, as revealed in the successful book, ‘Greek Cafés and Milk Bars of Australia’. Serving the Brewarrina community for over 90 years, it’s admired deeply by Greeks across Australia, and more personally Andrew.
Pippos gained his love for writing under the massive olive tree beside the café in Brewarrina, where he would peel potatoes and carry out other chores. During this time, his family would tell him stories of Greek myths and legend, sparking his creative journey.
“These childhood conversations are where my love of literature begins,” Pippos says.
Angelo and Margaret Pippos serving the Brewarrina community. Photo: EDWINA PICKLES/SMH
“When I was at a very impressionable age, I was in my grandmother’s café and that was exercising a lot of influence on my imagination. And that’s where this book comes from.”
“We all have places like this. The place where our imagination was formed and mine was in my grandmother’s café. And I think a lot of novelists write about that ‘place’ in their first books.”
The Greek café industry in Australia blossomed during the mid 1900’s, yet the book manages to portray many of the ups and downs experienced by migrants during this time. Even the societal influence to steer away from traditional home Greek meals for their customers.
“This was an assimilation era of Sydney, where people who came from Greece and started these cafés couldn’t cook Greek food because customers wouldn’t eat it,” Pippos explains.
“It was interesting to me that dynamic of not being able to show the world what you’re best at and keep it between your family.”
“I’m not sure if you want to call that racism but it’s a kind of intolerance, and that permeates the book. But on the same side the cafés were a complex place. You can’t just think of them as agents of assimilation, they were a mix of influences.”
Pippos says he doesn’t want people reading the book to feel sadness or any other particular emotion. Instead, he wishes for people to simply enjoy the journey.
“I mean there’s a lot of ups and downs in the narrative in terms of the characters fortunes but, it’s not meant to be a depressing read,” Pippos adds.
“You don’t try and provoke a certain emotion too much. Rather just try to name the characters and see what resonates with the reader.
“Whatever resonates for them emotionally is fine by me.”
Being his debut book, Pippos hopes to continue on his writing journey, always taking influence from his roots and Greek culture.
Former Masterchef Australia judge George Calombaris has sold his mansion in Melbourne’s Toorak for an undisclosed fee as he looks to settle a remaining $8.5 million debt.
According to The Age, Calombaris sold his mansion for an undisclosed fee to 35-year-old Chinese-born buyer Ka Ning Cheung. He and his wife, Natalie, purchased the pad in 2013 for $4.75 million.
An expression of interest sign was first placed outside the five-bedroom French provincial-style home on February 10.
Sold: George Calombaris’s home in Toorak. Photo:JASON SOUTH/The Age
This is around the same time the celebrity chef’s restaurant empire suffered $20.7 million in losses before it went into voluntary management.
The collapse forced the closure of 12 venues, including the souvlaki chain Jimmy Grants and three Hellenic Republic Greek restaurants. At the time, the company employed 364 permanent and casual staff. Meanwhile, former Swisse vitamins boss Radek Sali, Made’s sole director, did his dough to the tune of $11.5 million.
Various bits of the business have been flogged off since. Part of the Jimmy Grants went to the owners of Melbourne Greek institution Stalactites, while the Yo-Chi frozen yoghurt stores ended up in the hands of the sons of Boost Juice founder Janine Allis.
Prominent immigration agent Lily Ong handled the deal. On Tuesday, the agent and solicitor said she was representing the new owner, but was coy when contacted by CBD, noting that the house is not in Calombaris’ name (it’s in the name of his wife).
Churches, along with gyms, will benefit from lifted COVID-19 restrictions from Friday, as the NSW Government worked towards returning the state to “a pre-COVID environment”.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet announced on Wednesday that church services would now be able to have up to 300 people at a service, subject to space restrictions.
“The impact of COVID-19 is being felt right across the community but the further easing of restrictions to allow 300 people at religious gatherings is another cautious step towards a ‘COVID-normal’ life,” Mr Hazzard said.
Photo: 2GB
“COVID-19 is still lurking amongst us so I urge all leaders to continue encouraging everyone at their religious gatherings and places of worship to comply with the health advice to keep themselves and others safe.”
Religious gatherings exclude weddings and funerals. However, from 1 December, the number of people who can attend weddings will be lifted to 300 people subject to the four square metre rule indoors and two square metre rule outdoors.
People attending a religious service will be required to provide their name and contact details when they enter so they can be used for contact tracing. They are also being urged to wear a mask when attending places of worship.
Gyms, which have previously needed to have COVID safe marshalls in place at all times, will now be able to operate without one when there are fewer than 20 people there.
“Our aim is to provide as many opportunities as we can for organisations and the community to carry on with their work and lives as much as possible,” Mr Perrottet said.
A lack of onsite cardiac treatment is being blamed for the deaths of four babies at Adelaide’s Women’s and Children’s Hospital in the past month, a South Australian Parliament committee has heard.
John Svigos, the convenor of a group called the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Alliance, told the Select Committee on Health Services that children would normally have emergency transfers to Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital for the treatment.
Svigos has called for hospital’s board to approve a proposal presented 18 months ago, which brings increased onsite cardiac treatment or external oxygenation machines (ECMOs) available for babies and children.
An ECMO machine in action in an intensive care unit.(Getty Images: Akiromaru)
“How many more deaths of babies and young children will the community and staff be forced to endure?” he asked.
Professor Svigos said the lack of the service at the hospital was an “erroneous decision” based on cost.
“We spend $5 million a year transferring patients,” he said.
“It would cost about $6 million to set it up and then $1 million a year to run it.”
Women’s and Children’s Hospital chief executive Lindsey Gough speaks to the media.(ABC News: Lincoln Rothall)
He said within two years it would be cost-neutral to run the treatments in South Australia.
Women’s and Children’s Hospital CEO Lindsey Gough denies the lack of services is about cost. She says there are simply not enough cases in Adelaide for staff to maintain their skills.
“This is not about money at all, this is about a sustainable, safe service,” Gough said.
Greek NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo continues to show love for tennis on his Greek vacation in the NBA off-season with a video complimenting Nick Kyrgios’ skills on the court.
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Emmanuel Karalis enjoyed a night out last week in Athens celebrating the end to their respective sports seasons.
The three Greek athletes have continued their relaxation period travelling across Greece, last being spotted sun-baking on a stretch of beach.
Credit: giannis_an34/Instagram
In a video reposted by Nick Kyrgios, Giannis complimented the Greek-Australian tennis star saying he was ‘nuts’, but is a big fan of his talent.
“I love him, I do love him, I’m a big fan,” Antetokounmpo said about Kyrgios.
“Bro, I was watching your 10 minutes of the madness of Kyrgios’ video. Bro, you’re nuts but I still love you.”
The Greek NBA player also made reference to his famous Washington Open 2019 match versus Yoshihito Nishioka. During the match, Kyrgios was caught throwing a water bottle at the base of the umpires chair, claiming it ‘slipped out of his hand’.
Tsitsipas and Antetokounmpo teased Kyrgios a few days ago as well in another video shared by Tsitsipas. The world number seven tennis player told his friend Kyrgios that Antetokounmpo had a message for him.
The NBA star proceeded to say, “Well, Nick, you were my favourite tennis athlete. But now it’s Nadal because I just love him, sorry.”
It may be the time for your parents or grandparents to hop on social media as the NSW government encourages seniors to enhance their digital skills during Get Online Week.
Acting Minister for Seniors Geoff Lee said being skilled in an increasingly digital world is vital for our seniors to stay connected with their family and friends, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While our NSW seniors are better connected than ever, with more than 70 percent accessing the internet daily, we want all older people to have the chance to go digital,” Mr Lee said.
“NSW Seniors Card statistics show more than half the state’s older residents use smartphones, tablets or laptops but need help to upskill in social media interaction with family and friends.”
Technology training programs will be held across NSW at participating libraries and community colleges through the NSW Government’s Tech Savvy Seniors program.
Tech Savvy Seniors offers a range of courses including a basic introduction to using tablets, computers, smartphones, email or social media.
Photo: Cleaning and maintenance management
Partnering with Telstra, Principal for Strategy and Inclusion Michael Parks said Tech Savvy Seniors is part of Telstra’s commitment to helping all Australians enjoy the benefits of being connected and engaged with digital technology.
“Telstra’s Australian Digital Inclusion Index research found age is a significant influence on digital inclusion in New South Wales. Seniors, or those aged over 65, are the largest digitally excluded group. Tech Savvy Seniors is a way to help address that,” Mr Parks said.
“Being confident in digital technologies can help break down social barriers, save money, and open up new learning and engagement opportunities for Seniors in their golden years.”
Courses can be also be delivered in Auslan and offered in a range of languages including Arabic, Assyrian, Cantonese, Hindi, Greek, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil and Vietnamese.
“Even if seniors have little or no digital experience they can join fun and practical classes to develop the skills and confidence to benefit from technology,” Mr Lee said.
Australians will not be sent to an early federal election with Prime Minister Scott Morrison declaring he is a “full termer” who will go the distance to 2022.
Mr Morrison met with his colleagues in Canberra on Tuesday to say that in political cycles there was always “good times and bad times” and they must maintain their discipline, unity and focus.
“When things are going well (politically) that’s when there’s a risk of complacency, disunity of the work rate dropping up, so that’s bad for governance but more importantly it’s bad for the community, the people we’re (here) to serve,” he said.
“So we need to maintain our discipline and unity and our focus, that’s more important than ever.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has told his parliamentary colleagues he’s a “full termer” when it comes to elections. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage
The latest a joint lower house and half senate federal election can be held in Australia is 21 May 2022, but a vote can be held up to 10 months before then.
“I’m a full termer,” he said.
“Elections are too hard to win, I cherish every day. We’ll do it for the time we said we would.”
Mr Morrison recalled being asked about the impact of coronavirus on the timing of the election.
“It was the furthest thing from my mind then and it still is,” he said.
The glooming recession and proposed long-term COVID-19 recovery plan were a few of the reasons some political commentators speculated the government may want to go to an early election.
However Mr Morrison’s comments appeared to contradict that theory, as he insisted to colleagues he would go the full distance.
