end of may. scheduled surgeries resumed from 4 may, individual exercise was allowed in open areas and churches opened, but only for individual prayer. 11 and 18 may on 11 may, all remaining retail shops as well as driving schools that were shut down by governmental decree, except shopping malls, cafes and restaurants, re-opened with specific hygiene rules. this restart affected a total of 66,010 businesses, about 25% of those whose operation was suspended, and 155,962 employees, 22.5% of the total. classes for high school senior grade students resumed from 11 may, but classes were divided into two groups with a maximum of 15 pupils in each group. groups attended classes on alternating days. worshippers were able to attend divine liturgies and other religious services following specific hygiene rules, from 17 may. from 18 may, all other grades of secondary education resumed classes and private tuition and foreign language centres re-opened. on that date, all movement restrictions across the country were also lifted with the restart of free travel between regions on the mainland and the islands of crete and euboea. travel by bus, train or plane includes a series of hygiene measures such as pre-boarding screening measures, limits to the maximum number of people allowed to board, mandatory use of face masks, keeping a safety distance and regular cleaning and disinfection. on 18 may all archaeological sites, zoos, botanical gardens as well as all aesthetic and dietary institutes, discount and outlet villages and shopping malls re-opened, earlier than the previously established 1 june date. mall customers and employees are required to keep safe distances and wear masks. subsequent stages (25 may - june) on 25 may, a week earlier than the initial planning, all cafes and restaurants re-opened for business, but only with outdoor seating, certain distances between chairs and tables and a maximum of six seated customers per table. the use of face masks and gloves by staff members is compulsory. on 1 june, year-round hotels, open-air cinemas, golf courses and public swimming pools began operation. nursery schools, kindergartens and primary schools also opened on 1 june, although their operation had not been initially decided. on 5 june, the super league greece resumed play, but without fans in the stadiums. indoor restaurants and cafes as well as other indoor facilities gradually opened on 6 june. vaccination campaign vaccination coverage rate as per 2 june 2021. the covid-19 vaccination campaign began on 27 december 2020. controversies and criticism religious services and holy communion controversy on 9 march 2020, the standing holy synod of the church of greece, the country's established eastern orthodox church, discussed the coronavirus epidemic and issued an encyclical that was sent to the dioceses of the church of greece. having stated that the holy communion could by no means be a way of transmission of diseases, the standing synod decided to continue offering and receiving the holy communion. the synod's decision sparked controversy. the synod's stance prompted criticism from the opposition syriza party, with former prime minister alexis tsipras criticising the hierarchy, as did former health minister pavlos polakis. some high-profile greek medical doctors publicly supported the continuation of practicing holy communion, drawing criticism from the greek association of hospital doctors. on 11 march, the prime minister of greece kyriakos mitsotakis, in a nationally televised address, told the public to follow the instructions of doctors and experts, and the church of greece to cooperate in enforcing the public health regulations. two days later, the archbishop of athens and all greece ieronymos stated that the church agreed with and would implement the public health precautionary measures taken by the national authorities. on 16 march, after having been briefed by infectious disease spokesman sotiris tsiodras, the church's standing synod decided to suspend all public services except divine liturgies on sundays, which were to be held as usual between 7 and 8 o'clock in the morning; weddings and baptisms were suspended, funerals were to be held with only the immediate family present; churches were to remain open for private prayer. following the synod's decision, the greek prime minister announced the government's decision to suspend services in all areas of religious worship of any religion or dogma from 16 to 30 march, effectively suspending sunday divine liturgies for that period too. on 1 april, the standing synod of the church of greece issued a statement that urged the faithful to abide by the government's sanitary regulations and to refrain from attending services in churches; it also re-affirmed its stance on the holy communion set out in the statement of 9 march 2020 and expressed hope that solemn public celebration of easter (pascha), which would properly be on 19 april, could be performed on the night of 26 may, the eve of the leave-taking (apodosis) of pascha. on 18 april, some churches in athens were opened by the priests to offer services to worshippers. elsewhere in athens, some orthodox believers protested against the closing of the churches and hammered on the church doors. 18 of them were arrested by the police. in the island of corfu, the local orthodox bishop, who had opposed government measures to halt the spread of coronavirus, invited the local mayor and citizens to take part in a closed-door service. as part of the four risk categories introduced from 12 october, different rules on seating and distancing between worshippers were applied to places of worship in each regional unit depending on its risk category. as of november 2020, the orthodox church practice of believers receiving wine from the same spoon during holy communion, has not changed. ban on 17 november 'polytechnic' march on 14 november, the greek chief of police, announced a ban on gatherings of more than three people throughout the country, from 15 november until 18 november. in greece, 17 november ordinarily commemorates the polytechnic uprising of november 1973. on 15 november 2020 the association of judges and prosecutors of greece said that such a general ban on gatherings was unconstitutional as it conflicts with article 11 of the greek constitution and asked that it be revoked. their statement did not oppose more specific bans and continued "the state must protect public health in the face of a pandemic, without exceeding the limits of the rule of law". left-wing opposition parties syriza, communist party of greece and mera25 condemned the police order as unconstitutional, authoritarian and undemocratic and demanded its withdrawal. the communist party of greece invited mps and its members to participate in the march, contrary to the police ban, while mera25 advised their members to stay home due to the pandemic and let the party's mp's represent them in the march. the secretary of mera25, giannis varoufakis, announced that he had a telephone conversation with the minister of civil protection, michalis chrysochoidis, who announced that any members of the greek parliament participating in the march on the anniversary of the polytechnic uprising would be arrested. delays in drug approvals according to complaints from the former deputy minister of health and surgeon-intensivist, pavlos polakis and the president of the far-right greek solution party, kyriakos velopoulos, the greek government delayed approving potentially important drugs against covid-19 such as colchicine and the use of monoclonal antibodies. according to the complaints, although the effective use of colchicine was discovered by greek scientists, the greek government approved the drug in january 2021 with a delay of 5 months, while until february 2021 it has not approved the use of monoclonal antibodies. according to complaints by opposition figures, the use of these drugs is very useful as greek society has been exhausted by the health measures of the mitsotakis government. control of the media and claims of censorship since its election in july 2019, the government of kyriakos mitsotakis has been criticised by the opposition for its privileged relations with the media, such as democratic backsliding. during the first phase of the epidemic, the government allocated a total of 20 million euros for a state advertising campaign on tv channels, newspapers and news websites to promote the quarantine that had been imposed. the spending was criticised by the opposition in the parliament that mentioned also the exclusion of media outlets which were not supportive of the government ("petsas list"). on 30 november 2020, the vice president of the european commission věra jourová stated that same phenomena, regarding the funding of government-friendly media, are also observed in hungary, slovenia and poland. in addition, there were complaints that the greek government tried to silence critical views from journalists regarding the strictness of the quarantine. a typical example is the non-broadcasting of a scheduled and videotaped journalistic tv show presented by antonis schroeter on the alpha tv station on 29 october 2020. the show was about the so-called conspiracy theories about covid-19. the show hosted the views of nikolaos sypsas, a professor of infectious diseases, member of the committee of the greek ministry of health and advocate of extreme and harsh restrictive measures, and from the other hand the professor of pediatrics ioannis kavaliotis and the musician grigoris petrakos who are against the harsh measures of the greek government. the greek government also has been accused of launching an attack against internet and social network users who publish dissenting views regarding government measures against covid-19. specifically, it is claimed that the cybercrime prosecution of the greek police has been ordered to monitor conversations and posts on facebook, instagram, twitter and other social networks in order to identify people who express disagreement with government measures. those who are detected will face immediate arrest and a maximum imprisonment of three years if convicted. 44 cases had already been filed by 24 september 2020. proposal for a european vaccination certificate the greek prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis sent a letter to the president of the european commission ursula von der leyen on 11 january 2021, asking her to apply a pan-european vaccination certificate for covid-19 so that europeans could travel. the world health organization expressed its opposition to such a possibility, as there was a shortage of vaccines worldwide and the effectiveness of vaccines had not yet been established. the first negative reaction from leaders of european union countries to the mitsotakis proposal came from the romanian president klaus iohannis, who characterized the mitsotakis proposal as divisive, stating that a vaccination certificate can not be related to travel and that such a certificate would divide the citizens of europe. france expressed reservations about mitsotakis' proposal, with france's minister for european affairs stating that france was very cautious about the certificate and that the proposal was too early.