By Magda Panoutsopoulou
ATHENS (AA) - After months of lockdown, Greece is loosening its coronavirus measures starting Monday with the reopening of its food sector.
Restaurants, coffee shops, and bars are opening their doors to the public for the first time since November’s lockdown.
Customers will only be allowed to be served in the open and with only six people per table, while music will not be allowed in order for customers not to come too close to hear each other.
Night curfew is also shortened to start from 11 p.m. local time instead of 10 p.m. which has been in place.
Citizens that wish to visit any food sector outlet will need to send a text message.
Also, food sector employees will be obliged to be self-tested for COVID-19 while a mask will still be obligatory.
Greece has been gradually lifting its pandemic measures since April when the retails sector reopened with the "click away" and "click in shop" methods that were previously used.
The country has been speeding up its vaccination program aiming to administer up to 2.5 million jabs in May and up to 4 million in June.
In April, the country has administered roughly 1.4 million jabs.
Official data have shown a decrease in Greece’s coronavirus cases with the latest count on Saturday recording 1,391 new cases and 72 more deaths, but a slight rise was registered in intubations with 811 on ventilators on Saturday rising from 802 on Friday.
The overall number of confirmed cases in the country now stands at 346,422 according to health authorities while the total number of deaths is at 10,453.