Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has ordered a partial shut down of the nation, beginning Tuesday, as positive cases of the Coronavirus have spiked in recent weeks, culminating in the country’s first-ever 2,000+ case day on Saturday, October 31.

In addition to a nationwide curfew from midnight to 5:00am and masks required everywhere in public, as well as indoor gatherings and shops, the new restrictions include the closure of all restaurants, bars, nightclubs, cinemas, gyms, theaters and museums in “red zone” regions, which include Athens, Thessaloniki and the surrounding regions.

Retail shops, churches, schools, banks and pharmacies are allowed to remain open.

Mitsotakis announced the new measures in a televised address to the nation that was to be given on Friday, but pushed to Saturday after an earthquake hit the Greek island of Samos.

Although still better in relative statistics than the rest of Europe, the government’s decision to tighten restrictions following mounting pressure on the nation’s healthcare system.

Intensive care units in Thessaloniki filled at record speeds as more and more Coronavirus patients required intubation. Occupancy in the northern city’s ICUs rose from 10 to 60 per cent within a week and experts and health officials feared that Covid patients from northern Greece would have to be transported to Athens hospitals where ICU occupancy is also currently at 60 percent.