Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Jan 4;18(1):322.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18010322.

The Early Stage of COVID-19 Outbreak in Greece: A Review of the National Response and the Socioeconomic Impact

Affiliations
Review

The Early Stage of COVID-19 Outbreak in Greece: A Review of the National Response and the Socioeconomic Impact

Timokleia Kousi et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Greece is a European-Union country, of around 10 million people, located in the southeast part of Europe. The economy is recovering from a long period of deep recession, due to the economic crisis that started in 2008. The economic problems greatly influenced the structure and resources of the healthcare system of the country. In addition to the economic challenges, the country has been facing a refugee crisis, characterized by many overcrowded hotspots and tensions with neighboring Turkey. The COVID-19 outbreak arrived in Greece on 26 February 2020, at the time that Athens had declared a state of emergency at the Greek/Turkish border. From this point in time the government enforced a series of measurements, aiming to contain the epidemic and avoid the collapse of the healthcare system. The vast majority of the general population complied to the measures and consequently Greece's death toll was low. The impacts of the outbreak are expected to be, as everywhere worldwide, multifaceted and to affect many parts of the economic, social and political life of the country.

Keywords: Covid-19; Greece; SARS-CoV 2; coronavirus outbreak; mathematical modeling; pandemic; public health measurements; social measurements.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Gross Domestic Product in Greece according to the World Bank [11].
Scheme 2
Scheme 2
Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Greece as of the 11 April 2020-(the red line shows the cumulative number of confirmed cases) [27].
Scheme 3
Scheme 3
COVID-19 deaths in Greece as of 11 April 2020 (the red line shows the cumulative number of deaths) [27].
Scheme 4
Scheme 4
Map of the geographical distribution of confirmed cases as of 11 April 2020 [27].
Scheme 5
Scheme 5
The 4 equations that define the SEIR model.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Epidemiological Curve 1.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Epidemiological Curve 2.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Epidemiological Curve 3.
Scheme 6
Scheme 6
Comparison between Greece, Italy and Spain on the timing of nationwide response measures [7].
Scheme 7
Scheme 7
Comparison between Greece and other European countries regarding the registered number of deaths [17].

References

    1. World Health Organisation Q&A on Coronaviruses (COVID-19) [(accessed on 10 November 2020)]; Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/q-a-coronaviruses.
    1. World Health Organisation Statement on the Second Meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee Regarding the Outbreak of Novel Coronavirus. [(accessed on 30 January 2020)]; Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/30-01-2020-statement-on-the-second-...
    1. World Health Organisation WHO Director-General’s Opening Remarks at the Media Briefing on COVID-19. [(accessed on 11 March 2020)]; Available online: https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-re....
    1. World Health Organisation 2019-nCoV Outbreak: First Cases Confirmed in Europe. [(accessed on 25 January 2020)]; Available online: http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/health-emergencies/pages/news/n....
    1. Worldometers Coronavirus Cases. [(accessed on 15 March 2020)];2020 Available online: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

LinkOut - more resources