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Greece to test visitors from airports on EU high-risk list
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People visit the Pnyx Hill in Athens overlooking the ancient Acropolis on May 29, 2020 as Greece eases lockdown measures taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 (the novel coronavirus). (AFP/Louisa Gouliamaki)
G
reece said on Saturday it will conduct coronavirus tests on visitors arriving from airports deemed high-risk by the European Union's aviation safety agency EASA when it opens its airports to tourism traffic on June 15.
EASA regularly updates a list of airports located in affected areas with high risk of transmission of the COVID-19 infection, which include 13 in the United Kingdom, all those in 22 US states and those in the Ile de France region surrounding Paris.
"If you originate from an airport on the EASA affected area list, then you will be tested upon arrival," the ministry of foreign affairs said in an announcement, adding that movement restrictions will also apply.
"If the test is negative, then the passenger self-quarantines for 7 days. If the test is positive, the passenger is quarantined under supervision for 14 days."
Visitors arriving from other areas will be randomly tested upon arrival. Greece released a first list of 29 countries it considered safe on Friday and said it would be reviewed again before July 1, depending on the evolving situation.
The Mediterranean nation, which emerged from a decade-long debt crisis in late 2018, relies heavily on tourism - about 20 percent of its output - for its economic recovery.
A nationwide lockdown imposed in March helped Greece contain the spread of infections to just below 3,000 cases, a relatively low number compared with elsewhere in the European Union. But it brought the tourism sector to a virtual standstill.
Greece's economy is seen contracting by up to 10 percent this year.
