in intensive care (total on that date) cumulative totaltests performed ^ cases by region region cases deaths attica 5,579 127 central macedonia 2,759 72 peloponnese 339 1 thessaly 603 6 western macedonia 444 34 eastern macedonia and thrace 812 32 western greece 190 8 central greece 285 0 crete 465 2 ionian islands 275 3 epirus 142 2 south aegean 475 0 north aegean 290 9 mount athos 4 0 non residents 1060 1 no location provided 1016 33 note: figures to mid-september 2020 - source:covid—19 cases by sex and age classification cases fatal cases cases treated in icu number (%) number (%) number (%) all 34299 (100) 603 (100) 108 (100) sex male 18967 (55.3) 375 (62.2) 74 (68.5) female 15332 (44.7) 228 (37.8) 34 (31.5) age ≥65 3762 (11.7) 495 (82.1) 56 (51.9) 40–64 11810 (36.6) 102 (16.9) 50 (46.3) 18–39 14190 (44.0) 6 (1.0) 2 (1.9) 0–17 2489 (7.7) 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0) data as of 28.10.2020 15:00 eet. source: national public health organization, figures to october 2020 impact economic greece's tourism industry has been negatively impacted by the crisis, and a 9.7% economic contraction has been predicted for the fiscal year 2020, but demand from home purchases from residents of other european countries has increased as many properties have become available as a result of greece's economic difficulties. up to 65% of greek hotels, including many investment grade properties and commercial developments on crete, corfu and rhodes, are expected to face bankruptcy under current conditions. it's estimated that german property investments in greece have increased by 50%, especially in the peloponnese and islands like crete, corfu, karpathos and amorgos. greece's successful handling of the pandemic with fewer than 200 deaths and only 3,826 total reported cases has been one of the factors driving the demand for property purchases from other european nations. response measures logo of the "μένουμε σπίτι" (we stay home) campaign by the hellenic ministry of health cell broadcast message sent on all smartphones in greece on march 11 by the general secretariat for civil protection, with general instructions regarding the pandemic starting on 16 march, the hellenic ministry of health introduced a daily afternoon live televised briefing with updates on the progression of the pandemic in the country and the government's emergency measures, hosted by dr. sotiris tsiodras, the health ministry spokesman on the covid-19 pandemic, and deputy minister for civil protection and crisis management nikos hardalias, with occasional appearances of other government officials as well. from the beginning of may, the live televised briefings were held three times a week, while a daily covid-19 report by npho on the progression of the disease in the country was published online. on 27 may, after 72 days, the televised briefings ended, while the daily npho reports on the daily number of new cases and deaths continued. from mid-july, weekly televised briefings by hardalias, focusing solely on operational issues, were re-introduced. restrictions on movements and gatherings on 9 march, all school trips were banned, all sports games were to be played with no fans attending and all school championships were cancelled, and starting on 10 march, all educational institutions were closed for 14 days. on 16 march two villages in western macedonia, damaskinia and dragasia, were quarantined after several cases among their residents were confirmed. movement in and out of the villages was banned, allowing only medical staff and municipal staff to supply medication and food. on 18 march, greece announced new coronavirus restrictions pertaining to migrant camps. for thirty days, the movement of camp residents would be restricted to small groups between 7 am and 7 pm, which could only include one person per family and would be controlled by police on public transport. specialised medical teams were sent to the camps for the creation of virus isolation areas and compulsory temperature checking. all other visits to the camps whether by individuals or organisations were suspended for at least 14 days. on the same day, deputy minister of civil protection and crisis management nikos hardalias announced a ban on public gatherings of 10 or more people and the imposition of a €1,000 fine on violators. on 20 march, minister of shipping and island policy giannis plakiotakis announced that only permanent residents and supply trucks would be allowed to travel to the greek islands, with effect from 6 am local time on 21 march. travellers need to provide proof of permanent residence (via a tax certificate) on the island to which they wish to travel. people who are already on the islands and wish to leave are allowed to return to the mainland. on 22 march, the greek government announced a ban on all nonessential transport and movement across the country, starting from 6 a.m. on 23 march until 6 april. movement was permitted only for a prescribed set of reasons that include moving to or from the workplace during normal business hours, shopping for food or medicine, visiting a doctor or assisting a person in need of help, exercising individually or in pairs or walking a pet, attending a ceremony (wedding, baptism, funeral etc.), and cases of divorced parents moving to ensure communication with their children. people returning to their permanent places of residence were exempt. citizens leaving their home were required to carry their id or passport with them, as well as some type of certification explaining the reason for their movement which has to be confirmed by their employer or by themselves. the options included filling in a special form that could be downloaded from the government website forma.gov.gr, sending a free sms to the number 13033, or explaining their reason in a signed handwritten declaration. the information needed included the name, home address, time of departure from home, and the specific reason for transport that falls under one of the exceptions. members of the government and parliament as well as all health, civil protection, law enforcement and armed forces personnel were excluded from the measure. the hellenic police, the municipal police, the hellenic coast guard and the national transparency authority were required to enforce the restrictions and issue fines of 150 euros for each offense. on the same day, it was also announced that daytime public transport services would be limited, although ensuring sufficient service during business hours. journeys by car were only permitted for specific reasons, and the driver may only have one passenger in the vehicle. since the beginning of the curfew through 6 april, greek police have recorded more than 20,000 violations (increasing in recent days) and made 348 arrests of offenders. on 4 april the measure was extended until 27 april. on 31 march, deputy minister for civil protection and crisis management nikos hardalias announced additional restrictive measures for a duration of 14 days in the municipalities of kastoria, orestida and nestorio of kastoria regional unit as well as those of xanthi and myki of xanthi regional unit. a night curfew was imposed from 8:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. the following morning and some options of the lockdown movement restrictions were suspended. only close relatives can attend a funeral and pet owners are allowed to walk their pet for up to 15 minutes and near their house only. on 2 april, following the confirmation of a case in mykonos, all construction activities on the island were suspended. on 5 april, another case was confirmed and a night curfew was imposed from 8:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. the following morning while some options of the lockdown movement restrictions were suspended for 14 days. the same day all construction activity was suspended for 30 days on the island of santorini, although no cases have been reported there. from 8 april, the hellenic police installed permanent roadblocks and intensified checks of vehicles in all national roads and highways across the country, as well of travellers at the airports, ports, railway and bus stations. anyone travelling by car without a valid reason to a destination other than his permanent residence was charged with a fine of 300 euros, is obliged to return to his place of origin and the vehicle registration plates are seized for 60 days. from 17 to 24 august, a cap of 50 attendees applied to most public events. from 21 august to 12 september, a lower cap of 9 persons applied in halkidiki and mykonos, in private as well as public spaces. the same restrictions were also imposed in chania, but from 25 august to 12 september. from 29 august to 12 september the same restrictions applied also to zakynthos, lesvos and imathia. from 12 october, four risk categories (low / moderate / high / very high risk) were introduced and applied to each regional unit. in the first three risk categories, gatherings of no more than 100 (low risk), 50 (medium risk) or 9 persons (high risk) are allowed, while in regions categorized as 'very high risk' no outdoor gatherings are allowed. when the new system was introduced, 27 regional units were low risk, 25 were medium risk, 22 were high risk and no region was very high risk. on 15 and 16 october respectively, the kozani and kastoria regional units were moved from the high to the very high risk category, followed by the ioannina and serres regional units on 29 october. during the second national lockdown from 7 november to 14 december, leaving the house was only allowed for six specific reasons and subject to confirmation by sms. from 7 november, the government instituted a traffic ban during night hours. initially it allowed exceptions which included movement for the purchase of food or medicine. from 13 november, the ban on movement became stricter with an almost complete curfew from 9 pm to 5 am with more limited exceptions. during the pandemic, 34% of individuals in thessaloniki stopped utilizing public transportation, and over 70% stated they would prefer more buses on the road to reduce the possibilities of cars being overcrowded. travel and entry restrictions on 9 march, the hellenic civil aviation authority announced the temporary suspension of all flights to and from northern italy, affecting all greek airports and all airlines. on 14 march the suspension was extended to all passenger flights to and from italy, excluding cargo and sanitary ones. on 16 march greece closed its borders with albania and north macedonia, deciding to suspend all road, sea and air links with these countries, while only permitting the transport of goods and the entry of greek nationals and residents. the suspension of ferry services to and from italy, air links to spain, as well as the prohibition of all cruise ships and sailboats docking in greek ports was also decided. the same day it was announced that a 14-day home restriction will be mandatory for those who enter the country. on 18 march, greece and the other eu member states decided to close their external borders to all non-eu nationals. in greece, the entry of citizens of countries from outside the european union was only permitted for a condition that relates exclusively to an emergency or family matter. all private pleasure boats from abroad were also banned from entering the country. on 19 march, turkey closed the land border crossings with greece at karaağaç and ipsala. from 23 march, greece suspended all passenger flights to and from the uk as well as all air, sea, rail and road connections with turkey, with an exception for greek citizens and those who have residence permits or whose main residence is in greece, as well as trucks and ships transporting goods. on 28 march, greece suspended all commercial flights to and from germany and the netherlands until 15 april, with a few exemptions. from germany, only flights to athens eleftherios venizelos airport were permitted. on 15 april, the hellenic civil aviation authority issued notams covering until 15 may, that ban commercial flights to and from italy, spain, turkey, the united kingdom, the netherlands and germany. exemptions included cargo, sanitary, humanitarian, state, military, ferry and frontex flights, as well as flights in support of the hellenic national healthcare system, those for repatriation of greek citizens and emergency flights. on 15 may, the hellenic caa issued five more notams extending the suspension of all commercial flights to and from italy, spain, turkey, the united kingdom and