ATHENS (Reuters) -Greece reported a record 50,126 coronavirus infections on Tuesday, breaking a previous high of 40,560 registered on Dec. 31.
As recently as Dec. 27, only 9,284 new infections were recorded in a day. The number of deaths recorded in a day dropped to 61 from 78 on Monday.
The country imposed new curbs on bars, restaurants and nightclubs last week, following the surge of infections with the Omicron variant over the Christmas holidays.
Hundreds of thousands of students and teachers will nonetheless return to class as scheduled on Jan. 10 but pupils will need to be tested three times during the first week – once more than before the holidays.
“Nothing can replace in-person schooling,” Education Minister Niki Kerameus said in a televised briefing.
Greece has registered a total of 21,053 deaths linked to COVID-19 since February 2020, and has reported 1,344,923 cases for a population of nearly 11 million to date.
(Reporting by Angeliki Koutantou; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Alison Williams)
