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Scott Morrison joins Greek PM and other world leaders to discuss global COVID-19 response

The Greek Herald
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Scott Morrison joins Greek PM and other world leaders to discuss global COVID-19 response

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison spoke with leaders from seven ‘first mover’ nations last night to discuss the appropriate courses of action for the next steps in managing COVID-19.

The meeting was hosted by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz via a video call, which the Australian Chancellor dubbed the “First Movers COVID Group”. Scott Morrison was joined in the meeting by leaders from Austria, Israel, Denmark Singapore, Greece, Czech Republic and Norway.

Leaders of the countries discussed the most effective ways to “reopen our economies” and considered strategies to manage potential localised outbreaks.

“We swapped notes on the need to reopen our economies safely, including schools, how to manage localised outbreaks, the importance of rigorous tracing and testing, and keeping supply chains open,” Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in his Instagram post.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks with seven world leaders to discuss global COVID-19 strategy. Photo: Scott Morrison Instagram

The Australian Prime Minister stressed his support for the EU-sponsored resolution at the forthcoming World Health Assembly, encouraged greatly by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed the importance of tourism cooperation between the countries of the group, which record very low cases in the field of tourism.

The Prime Minister proposed a more systematic discussion between them, which will also concern specific protocols. The goal is to create “safe corridors” that will allow people to be transported between specific countries, based on rules.

Of the meeting participants, Greece has recorded the least cases, followed by Australia.

Scott Morrison remains one of the few world leaders to speak out about the need for an independent review of the global response to COVID-19, also raising it for discussion in the leader’s meeting. The Prime Minister wishes to attend the World Health Assembly in mid-May and call for an investigation into COVID-19, to enable a better response to future pandemics.

Acropolis hill to reopen on May 18 as Greece eases coronavirus ban

The Greek Herald
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Acropolis hill to reopen on May 18 as Greece eases coronavirus ban

After standing empty for two months, Greece’s ancient sites, including the Acropolis hill towering over Athens, will reopen to visitors on May 18, authorities said on Thursday.

The ancient monuments were closed along with museums in mid-March in Greece’s lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Restrictions have gradually been eased this week.

Museums will open again in mid-June while open-air performances will resume in mid-July, Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said. Distance and safety rules will apply.

Acropolis hill to reopen on May 18. Photo: Peter Oglos/The Greek Herald

The many historical sites are one of the mainstays of Greece’s vital tourism sector and efforts will now kick in to encourage visitors after travel restrictions and widespread closures caused a collapse in bookings.

Hundreds of musicians, actors and art workers rallied outside parliament to demand more support for their sector.

“We are here,” read a message drawn in chalk on the street. Protesters waved a giant theatre puppet. In the northern city of Thessaloniki, musicians performed tied up in a red and white cordon tape.

Many artists have performed live online for those staying home since Greece reported its first case of the new coronavirus in February.

“We stayed home but we didn’t stay silent,” artists’ unions said in a statement.

Sourced By: Reuters

Residents at Greek nursing home get creative to reassure family they are safe

Andriana Simos
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Residents at Greek nursing home get creative to reassure family they are safe

The COVID-19 pandemic might have restricted visits to aged care facilities in NSW, but this hasn’t dampened the spirits of elderly residents from St Basil’s nursing home in Lakemba.

The elderly spent their free time writing sweet messages on chalkboards to show their love to their families and reassure them they were safe and well.

“I love you. Be careful,” writes 83-year-old Maria in one heartwarming message.

“I’m well and they are looking after me. I want you all to be well and for God to look after you,” 89-year-old Anastasia joined in.

  • Maria wrote a message to her family. Source: St Basils NSW & ACT.
  • Yiayia Toula wrote to her grandchildren. Source: St Basils NSW & ACT.

And that’s not all the elderly residents at St Basils have been up to.

Over the last few weeks, the facility has been ensuring its residents remain safe and comfortable in their homes, giving them a chance to complete jigsaw puzzles and even create “Happy May Day” wreaths.

The smiles on their faces were something to behold.

  • Residents at St Basils were encouraged to make “May Day” wreaths. Source: St Basils NSW & ACT.
  • Jigsaw puzzles are becoming a part of daily life at the nursing home. Source: St Basils NSW & ACT.

Aged care visits restricted during COVID-19 pandemic:

The positive steps taken by St Basils to maintain the happiness of its residents, come in the wake of Prime Minister Scott Morrison announcing in late April that visits to nursing homes were being restricted.

In fact, the following people are currently not allowed to enter an aged care facility:

  • Anyone who has returned from overseas in the past two weeks.
  • Anyone who had been in contact with a confirmed coronavirus case.
  • Anyone with a fever or flu-like symptoms.
  • Anyone who hasn’t been vaccinated against influenza after May 1.

Visits will also be limited in time and a maximum of only two visitors will be permitted into facilities at one time per day.

No word yet on when these restrictions will be eased.

Canberra Greek Community refuses to halt community initiatives amid COVID-19

The Greek Herald
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Canberra Greek Community refuses to halt community initiatives amid COVID-19

The Greek Orthodox Community & Church of Canberra (GOCCC) have not let the coronavirus pandemic hamper their progress in building upon new and existing initiatives for the Canberra Greek Community.

GOCCC have been administering community matters programs and providing regular updates to their parishioners and members via social media during this time.

The Canberra Greek Community President, John Loukadellis, says that the coronavirus restrictions on churches were the perfect chance to work on restorations to the hail damage inflicted upon the St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Canberra.

Additionally, while the churches remaining closed, the GOCCC have provided the ability for parishioners to purchase candles and make donations online.

“As part of this initiative, Father Petros will also be blessing and providing prayers for the families of our parish,” Mr Loukadellis told The Greek Herald.

READ MORE: Greek community in Canberra restores hail-damaged church.

Hands Across Canberra Foundation Grant

The GOCCC was recently awarded a local grant from ‘Hands Across Canberra’ foundation, a foundation which raises funds for community-service organisations working with vulnerable individuals and families.

The grant has allowed the GOCCC to purchase tablets for their vulnerable elderly members, allowing them to stay connected to family and friends during COVID-19 restrictions.

Photo by Sigismund von Dobshutz/Wikimedia)

The Grant also allows the elderly to access livestreams of church services until churches reopen for public worship.

In the last eight years, Hands Across Canberra has donated over $2.5 million to close to 100 community projects aimed at making a difference to some of the ACT’s most vulnerable people.

Online Learning for Greek School and Zoom GOCCC Meetings

The GOCCC have enabled online learning for their Greek School students, allowing them to continue their cultural and language education while under restrictions.

“Our teachers remain very committed to their students and we are grateful for all their efforts in managing this remote teaching environment,” Mr Loukadellis told The Greek Herald.

The GOCCC president also affirmed that the committee continues to remain active and work effortlessly via regular ZOOM meetings.

“….When we come out of COVID-19, we will be ready to go with our events, fundraisers and business matters without any delays and obstacles,” Mr Loukadellis added.

Mr Loukadellis offered his thanks to Father Petros for all his continued support of our community, along with the GOCCC committee.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank our priest Father Petros for all his continued support of our community, our committee who are giving 100% of their volunteer hours to ensure the growth of our Hellenic culture in ACT and to all our members and friends for their continued support, love and generosity during this time.”

Inside a Greek COVID-19 intensive care ward [VIDEO]

Andriana Simos
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Inside a Greek COVID-19 intensive care ward [VIDEO]

During a decade a debt, Greece’s hospitals were crippled by a barrage of funding cuts. But in spite of this, the country’s efforts to contain COVID-19 appear to be paying off, with a far lower death toll than many other European nations.

Greek doctors and nurses have addressed this success in recent interviews with The Guardian.

In fact, Dr Yota Lourida, an Infectious Diseases specialist at Sotiria hospital in Athens, said despite Greece’s healthcare system being ‘old and decimated,’ it still pushed through the crisis.

“Every day we had to come in and see what resources we had available, what more we needed to ask for, if it’s available, if it would get here today, tomorrow and so on,” Dr Lourida told the media outlet.

“But fortunately, the result of the lockdown started showing in the number of daily hospital admissions. The rate of infection dropped to a large degree so we were given the time, with the PPE we already had, to meet the demands.”

But meeting these demands came at a significant mental and physical cost for health workers as they worked day and night to ensure the safety of Greek people, potentially risking their own lives in the process.

“Apart from the physical exhaustion, which was building up, there was tremendous psychological fatigue because no matter what we did, we didn’t stop, we didn’t have time to eat, we didn’t have time to go home,” Dr Lourida explained.

“We felt that what we were doing was for nothing. In Greek, there’s an expression: ‘Trying to make a hole in water’.”

Dr Antonia Koutsoukou who is Head of ICU at the same hospital, concurred with Dr Lourida’s comments and said ‘there were moments of great emotion.’

“Especially when we had to watch patients die, without having their families next to them to say goodbye. This has traumatised me,” Dr Koutsoukou said.

For now though, Greek doctors and nurses continue to push through the mental fatigue as they know there’s still a battle ahead. For many, they’ve been reminded of why they started practicing medicine in the first place.

“I think throughout this, all of us remembered why we started practicing medicine. Both the young doctors and the older ones who are actively involved. We couldn’t be anywhere else.”

Greek economy hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, EU says

Andriana Simos
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Greek economy hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic, EU says

The Greek economy is set to contract by 9.7 percent in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Commission forecast on Wednesday.

Greece, along with Italy, Spain and Portugal, will be among the hardest hit nations by the economic effects of the pandemic.

It is believed that Italy will record the second deepest recession, amounting to 9.5 percent GDP loss, followed by Spain, with 9.4 percent.

“Economic activity in Greece, Italy, Spain, Croatia, and to a lesser extent France, are forecast to contract the most,” said Paolo Gentiloni, European Commissioner for the Economy, during a press conference.

Data showing the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on EU members. Source: European Commission.

According to the Commission, Greece’s main export markets are also expected to suffer strong declines in 2020, leading to a drop in demand for Greek goods and services.

“Despite the swift policy response, the strong contraction in output is forecast to take a toll on employment,” the Commission states.

A recent report released by the Federation of Hellenic Enterprises (SEV) did find that Greece’s unemployment rate would record the biggest increase in a decade, but the Commission says a partial economic recovery in 2021 will lessen the pandemic’s impact on labour.

“The partial recovery in 2021 is expected to have positive effects on the labour market, bringing the unemployment rate down from 19.9 percent in 2020 to about 16.5 percent.”

Data showing the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Greece. Source: European Commission.

READ MORE: Unemployment rate in Greece to record biggest increase in 2020.

With Greece slowly returning to normalcy following the loosening of COVID-19 restrictions, only time will tell what the true economic impacts of the pandemic will be.

Israel signs deal to lease drones to Greece for border defence

Andriana Simos
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Israel signs deal to lease drones to Greece for border defence

Israel will be leasing drones to Greece for the protection of its borders under a three-year agreement signed on Wednesday by the defence ministries of both countries.

The agreement is the first military deal between Israel and Greece. Due to coronavirus-related restrictions, it was signed electronically.

“Under the agreement, the Israeli Ministry of Defense will provide Greece with a Heron unmanned aerial vehicle system… for three years, with the possibility of purchasing the system after the completion of the leasing period,” the Israeli Defence Ministry said in a press release.

The Heron system, which is used by Israel’s military and in naval forces around the world, is equipped with both day and night activity platforms, maritime patrol radars and satellite communications.

It will be used by Greece primarily for border defence, the Israeli ministry said, adding that security relations between Israel and Greece were expanding.

“We hope to sign additional agreements with Greece as well as other European partners, assisting them in addressing security challenges – in times of the corona pandemic and beyond,” the statement read.

Heron surveillance drones are already widely in use by the military in many countries and have a cumulative flight record of approximately 1.8 million hours. They are considered to be among the world’s most advanced devices.

Interior Ministry publishes decision regarding enrolment of diaspora voters

The Greek Herald
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Interior Ministry publishes decision regarding enrolment of diaspora voters

The Interior Ministry has published a decision regarding enrolment on the electoral register for Greeks living abroad.

The decision provides details regarding the enrolment of diaspora voters with the use of a digital application which is expected to go online on the Interior Ministry website this summer.

The application will be connected to the database of the education, labor and national defense ministries for the issuing of the necessary certificates.

Greeks will be eligible to vote if they can prove with state documents that they have lived in the country for two years over the past 35 years.

They will also need to have Greek tax identification numbers and have filed a tax declaration in the current or previous tax year.

The ministerial decision is expected to be published in the Government Gazette, with ministry officials ruling out any connection between the decision and the possibility of an early election.

Locals in Northern Greece set hotel on fire to prevent resettlement of refugees

The Greek Herald
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Locals in Northern Greece set hotel on fire to prevent resettlement of refugees

Protesting locals in Northern Greece set fire to a hotel which refugees relocated from island camps were supposed to be housed in, Greek authorities said on Wednesday.

Police said 150 protesters prevented buses carrying 57 refugees, brought to the mainland from Moria camp on Lesbos island, from reaching a rented hotel at a village in the northern region of Pella, and set fire to a room on the hotel’s ground floor.

No injuries or arrests were reported. Greece’s COVID-19 lockdown only allows public gatherings of up to 10 people, who must observe social distancing.

The buses were rerouted to another village in the Pella region, where protesters had set up roadblocks to prevent their entry. The group was eventually driven to the northern city of Thessaloniki, where they were put up in a local hotel.

Smaller protests also occurred at a hotel in the northern region of Kilkis, where 250 refugees from Lesbos were being taken to. Those protests were short-lived, however, and the migrants were housed in the facility which already accommodates other refugees, authorities said.

Greece’s government has vowed to ease massive overcrowding in refugee camps on the eastern islands, where tens of thousands of migrants and refugees live, and has begun moving some to the mainland.

Due to lockdown measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus, new arrivals on the islands from the nearby Turkish coast are not allowed into the camps.

So far no coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the island camps, although two refugee camps on the mainland were put under quarantine due to local outbreaks.

#KeepItGreek: Unmissable Greek rock concert is now available online

The Greek Herald
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#KeepItGreek: Unmissable Greek rock concert is now available online

For #KeepItGreek this week, The Greek Herald is bringing the pulse and liveliness of Greek concerts to the comfort of your home.

First up is a concert by the late Lavrentis Machairitsas and Vassilis Papakonstantinou, from the summer of 2018 at the Petra theatre.

Each Greek artist sings some of their greatest hits separately, before performing ‘South,’ ‘Gemini Blues’ and ‘Before the end’ in a duet.

We hope you enjoy the concert and if you’d like, we would love to see photos of you singing and dancing along to the songs! #KeepItGreek.

#KeepItGreek:

Τι θα λείψει πολύ αυτό το καλοκαίρι στην Ελλάδα;

Μα φυσικά, οι συναυλίες, ο παλμός των ζωντανών εμφανίσεων των αγαπημένων τραγουδοποιών.

Μέχρι να ξαναβρεθούμε σε ανοιχτούς χώρους για να παρακολουθήσουμε αγαπημένους Έλληνες καλλιτέχνες, ο «Ελληνικός Κήρυκας» σας μεταφέρει τον παλμό και την ζωντάνια από συναυλίες του παρελθόντος.

Ας αρκεστούμε να τους δούμε σε προηγούμενες εμφανίσεις τους να λένε αγαπημένα κομμάτια, τραγουδώντας κι εμείς μαζί με το κοινό από κάτω τους στίχους!

Ο αείμνηστος Λαυρέντης Μαχαιρίτσας και ο Βασίλης Παπακωνσταντίνου, σε μια συναυλία από το καλοκαίρι του 2018 στο θέατρο Πέτρας.

Θα ακούσεις τον καθένα τους ξεχωριστά σε μεγάλες επιτυχίες αλλά και τα «Νότος», «Διδυμότειχο blues» και «Πριν το τέλος» σε ντουέτα.

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