Greece’s Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis took to one of the UK’s leading news channels to defend his country’s handling of the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, simultaneously calling England’s decision to quarantine returning travelers an “unfortunate decision.”
Theoharis, who has been responsible for Greece’s reopening to tourists, defended Greece’s record while criticizing UK government officials for not following their own data rules that they have established for taking countries off the safe travel list.
“This is an unfortunate decision and it’s not warranted by the headline data,” Theoharis said on Sky News, adding that “twenty cases per 100,000 population is the yardstick of the UK government.” Greece is at about 13-14 cases and dropping, Theoharis stated.
When suggested by the interviewer that Greece wasn’t being truthful with its official statistics, Theoharis denied this.
English officials announced that travelers returning from holidays on seven Greek islands would have to self-isolate for 14 days upon their return.
The move led to dozens of cancellations of flights by carriers such as TUI, which transport thousands of U.K. tourists to Greece’s summer destinations.
England’s move followed similar moves by Scotland and Wales.
Greek Tourism Minister Haris Theoharis on Sky News
